A video that appears to show a crowd of people picking up iPhone boxes floating in the Strait of Hormuz is circulating on social media.
But it isn’t real—it was made with AI.
The video was shared with claims that iPhones were seen floating in the Strait “after Iran sinks Singaporean cargo ship” [sic].
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore reported that the container ships GFS Pride and GFS Giselle were struck by “unknown projectiles” in the Strait of Hormuz on 13 and 14 October. The GFS Pride subsequently sank. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy reportedly said the ship hit a naval mine while passing through what they called an “unauthorised” route.
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The Telegraph reported that the ship was carrying valuable goods such as iPhones and luxury perfumes. We have not been able to verify what the ship was carrying.
Authentic footage does show spilled cargo near the ship off the coast of Oman, and there have been reports of locals retrieving floating goods, but this video of people collecting iPhone boxes is not genuine.
Google’s SynthID detector told us the video contained an invisible SynthID watermark , which suggests that it was made or edited with Google AI.
There are also several glitches which are telltale signs of AI-generated content. One man picks up what first appears to be a single iPhone box, but as he walks, he is carrying two separate boxes. Two seconds later, the same man is carrying a larger stack—although he hasn’t picked up any more boxes. The same man also appears to be barefoot at the start of the video, before suddenly appearing to be wearing shoes.
It can be difficult to tell the difference between real and AI-generated videos, particularly when they circulate after real events. Our misinformation toolkit can help you become more confident to spot AI-generated content.
