A video shared to X on Feb. 26, 2025, showed a man standing on the bow of a boat, helping to detangle a fishing net wrapped around a whale that seemed to ask for his help. At the time of this writing, the video had received nearly 100,000 views.
— Photographer (@photo5065) February 26, 2025
However, the video wasn't real and was likely created using artificial intelligence. We have rated this claim fake.
An account with the username aithefuture4u originally posted the video to Instagram on Jan. 4, 2025. The profile is described as a video and content creator that specializes in "AI generated videos." A caption that accompanied the video contained several hashtags also identifying the video as being AI-generated: "#ai #aigenerated #aivideo #artificialintelligence #aiart #aiartcommunity."
Aside from the cartoonlike look, the video holds several clues that it was created using AI. For starters, at the 2-second mark in the video, the man's leg moves through the railing.
(Instagram/aithefuture4u)
Secondly, a frame-by-frame comparison shown below shows how the bow railing morphs and changes throughout the clip.
(Instagram/aithefuture4u)
And at the beginning of the clip, the man has gray facial hair while at the end, he has a bare face – another indication that the video was generated using AI.
(Instagram/aithefuture4u)
Snopes has debunked other videos posted as authentic that were actually AI-generated, including a big-eyed jellyfish and a "hidden tunnel" that was supposedly found under the UnitedHealthcare CEO's home.