WeatherWiz
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So we had tornadoes in NJ…Except, THESE are not real (Edit: I forgot to say the last one that has a green checkmark is real and unedited…but it is a Wall Cloud. They can produce one…which did happen in Pine Brook. But there was no tornado reported in West Caldwell itself. It may look like the whole thing is a tornado, because the tree line is covering the bottom base of that cloud. Source: I’m a meteorologist).
It really bugs me when people are so confident on social media of images without doing research of who took them and if those people are credible. Sometimes it’s all for clicks.
These images are AI altered. Even non boomers online are falling for these (my friends included). They mimic real tornadoes and honestly, look good at first glance. But knowing context like the location, the exact time these were taken, and who was taking them, is extremely important.
Skinny, cone shaped
Sometimes have “debris” coming out from the bottom
And very subtle too. This one could be real, but this wasn’t near the reported tornado.
Another over Manhattan.
This is real. It’s a “wall” cloud, which is the base of a rotating storm. They are indicators of a possible funnel or tornado. But the trees block the bottom, so it gives it the appearance of a wedge tornado (the ones you see in the plains)
Always do your research. Question the legitimacy of all images (even video), since AI is getting better and better, and we have no regulation to stop misinformation.
JeffDanson
At some point you'll just have to assume there's a decent chance every picture you come across online is generated by AI. Wonder if there's anyone alive today who hasn't been fooled at least once.
OriginalAndWitty
Sigh... I can't spend the rest of my life wondering if something online is AI generated...ffs. I'm just going to assume every damn thing I see is fake/AI from now on.
IssacOppenheimer
Tornado valley is moving East.
Isorikk
Just say "Thanks global warming", honestly not the worst misinformation online
Trimule
Ok - I admit it. I don't understand. Who takes the time (and has the talent) to create this flood of AI bullshit videos and pics? Is it pros wasting office time? Neckbeards in the basement? Chinese commercial hackers? How long and how much effort does it take to create one of these and get it out there? Why?
TheDildoOfConsequences
Deep f***ing sigh. I'd have believed these unless I had some really good reason not to, just because "pictures of extreme weather" wasn't on my radar for things people would fake. I still haven't really internalised that these days EVERY photo is fake until proven otherwise.
Urgalicity
I wish they were real.
Kbantar
I have poor vision, so no tricks or lessons can make me identify anything but the crappiest of A.I.
hellopittie
unluckyandbored
Everything on the Internet is fake. Nothing is real. It's all AI slop now unless proven otherwise.
DWolf
People have become addicts, either chasing dopamine hits with internet attention or adrenaline hits with rage bait. That people will fake tornado photos or news or quotes to get their next fix and give others a fix, creating a circle of desperation.
Addicts, jonesing for stronger and stronger stuff.
barbarian818
Who has time to research everything that they see on the internet? How do I research this to find out that it wasn’t ai generated? How do I know that I am not ai generated? My parents are too old probably thinks it’s a steak sauce…I can’t ask them if I’m ai. They won’t even know! 🤷♂️
DrewK98
If you don't have time to confirm everything you see on the internet, maybe look at less stuff on the internet. If I don't care enough about it to know whether it's true, then why do I care enough to be reading it?
"Then why are you taking the time to respond?" Fair question. It's entertainment. I'm not updating my opinions or making decisions based on storm pictures, so I don't really care which ones are real. The police violence videos, those I care about, so those I'll verify.
Coldin
I hate this timeline.
MightyIink
#4 I can tell in this one, the AI doesn't know how to place roofs and windows properly when it also needs to make an image blurry.
DesolateMirror
The good ones do, unfortunately.
Ree81
They're the same bots that are on reddit and on this site. They farm karma/credibility on all platforms, automatically, by posting random inane stuff without any real agenda in order to get likes and get the account to not seem suspicious. Then once that phase is done, they start posting spam. "Reviews" from "users" about various Chinese and American products. Here on Imgur the products are hidden in the 'dumps', and a bot usually asks "Hey where is this cool product from??", and another answers
SilverFoxChaser
Just had a real bad one in my area. Luckily I got a picture, it was crazy!
Kbantar
Jo: "Cow." Jo: "Another cow." Bill: "Actually, I think that was the same one!"
lonelyrangerofthedreams
Thank you for your service, internet stranger
Jelhammer
Same thing just happened in NE Ohio, tornado touched down, local news got video of it, posted the video and pictures online, head to FB and see dozens of AI pictures of it. I just don't understand, there are real pictures and video of a real tornado, why take the time to generate fake pictures, just copy/paste the ones that already exist
WeatherWiz
Because people suck. They want to be included, maybe they have fomo. It just does no good. And think about the people issuing warnings (national weather service), they rely on observations.
ziralien
You do know tornadoes *can* look like the ones you're saying (and I have no reason to not believe they aren't) AI, right? Not every >
Chilichunks
Ah, someone who didn't actually read the post, nice.
pgdave
OP specified that they did actually look like real tornadoes, which made it harder, but that you need to combine specific knowledge of the event with the specific images being presented as being that event. If the images differ significantly from the known information, they're unlikely to be accurate images (whether they're AI, photoshop, or just misattribution)
ziralien
tornado looks like your last image. Either way, stay safe when these warnings and watches come out in your area. These things aren't a joke.
WeatherWiz
I am aware they look like that. I’m not saying they don’t. Im saying to be careful. These were going around and the ACTUAL tornadoes were brief and did not look as nasty as these
WackyWavingInflatableArmFlailingTubman
A tornado in downtown Manhattan would've been world fucking news
spinbutton3
Manhattan has been hit before. You're right, the news feed would be full of pics and reports
isetprettygirlsonfire
Honestly these are hard to tell, even making more than a glance. I hate now I have to question every photo and video I look at.
mrsparkle001
The West Caldwell one is real and confirmed. It's the one seen here in Pine Brook: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Z7N8Hr5qAdM and confirmed: https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/two-tornadoes-in-new-jersey-nj/
Pine Brook is the next door to West Caldwell in the direction the tornado is moving (down Route 46 eastbound). Source: I live in walking distance of Pine Brook.
WeatherWiz
If you’re not someone like me who understands the context of what kind of tornadoes they were, 100%. Which makes this so scary because everyone was fooled.
mrsparkle001
If you want to know exactly where that video is from: Bonefish Grill Route 46 Pine Brook NJ, sometimes listed as Montville NJ. Google Bonefish Grill Pine Brook NJ if you don't believe me for some reason (not always easy or wise to believe people on the internet).
MelfsAcidArrow
Good - I don’t see as many ai images as I used to.
Bad - I don’t see as many ai images as I used to ……
pgdave
It used to be not-uncommon for real photos of one event to be posted and claimed to be photos of another event. AI might make it easier, but it's not like photos from non-trustworthy people were very trustworthy 10 years ago.
eventide215
Exactly. Even before AI these things would happen. They'd use photos of actual tornadoes in different places. The wording along with it would be very specific to not give it away and not to be "wrong" either. Like you'd find the whole story is real and a tiny fine print under the picture says it's from a different place entirely. Or the story wouldn't try to mention the place so technically it's true to the picture.
bigdix69420
Nah man this is def a real image including this real suv
bigdix69420
Uhhh I thought the /s was assumed
micuu
Why would you do that, you fool
medimr
eh? What's wrong with it?
bigdix69420
I am in total shock this vehicle is real. It totally looks like ai designed it
pgdave
It looks like a pickup truck with an extended cab and a hard cover over the bed, which means it was probably easy for the manufacturer to just repurpose a truck into an SUV, capturing more market without having to retool very much.
ragincanadian
Pretty sure that's a Ford excursion
CJAW
Damn, that's a long car
bigdix69420
OMG THIS IS REAL!? I...im sad someone would design/buy this.
CJAW
https://media4.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1MHR6ajM1NnZsNzBmeDA1dDNyeGMyenIwb205aDJ5NnYyN3p0cDQ1ZyZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/l2Je5GqBuZz1WCPM4/200w.webp
TurnsOut42WasASlightMiscalculation
What are you from Europe? Just wait til you find out we make crew cab trucks (the full first two rows of this) with an eight foot truck bed on the back
mrsparkle001
The West Caldwell one is real. I live very close by, like walking distance, and there was rotation https://youtube.com/shorts/Z7N8Hr5qAdM Plus it was confirmed: https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/two-tornadoes-in-new-jersey-nj/
mrsparkle001
West Caldwell is down the street in the direction that tornado was moving. I know the shopping center the photo was taken in. The other photos I do not know but the West Caldwell one is a confirmed tornado.
mrsparkle001
Laughing at the people downvoting me for speaking the truth about that last photo being a tornado not just a wall cloud, as confirmed by the National Weather Service.
mrsparkle001
Downvote me all you want if you want to keep believing the West Caldwell photo is fake but it was real and confirmed. "Two touched down in Morris County – one in the Roxbury/Lower Berkshire Valley area and one in the Troy Hills/Pine Brook area." and that's the one someone got video of and a photo from the town next door.
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mrsparkle001
As far as the other photos they look suspicious. NJ doesn't get tornadoes like that.
mrsparkle001
Yes that's me, and no the tornado didn't touch down in West Caldwell. It was just visible from there. West Caldwell is down the road from Pine Brook where it touched down. Here, I circled where the Pine Brook video was taken and where the West Caldwell photo was taken. Not far at all. Just down the road.
mrsparkle001
Now you don't know the area like I do (as I live there) but that photo was taken facing northwest-ish according to the sign and the Panera Bread. I know it well.
mrsparkle001
Here, I zoomed in on the shopping center and circled Panera (duh, it's shown) and that sign.
Twinklepot
https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1Z2FoN3NoYmpycHRkb3dsOXV4ZzA3em5weGZlcHI1cmJ0ZzE5Mm4wcSZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/tUDY12IXaazZq9Fosu/200w.webp
CPTBRUMBL3Z
Surprised I haven't seen this scene get the recent buffalo meme treatment.
Andersen81
That would be an akward flight after eating Taylor Farms lettuce.
Twinklepot
https://media4.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1Z2FoN3NoYmpycHRkb3dsOXV4ZzA3em5weGZlcHI1cmJ0ZzE5Mm4wcSZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/euFhCxBGsVxoQ/200w.webp
BeckyLookAtHerButt
How can you tell since they don't have fingers to count?
loxiabun
Aside from confirming with news/weather sources, you can notice things like shape, at the top and where it is supposedly hitting the grown. #2 & #3 show debris well above the tree line much higher than where it would actually be touching down. Plus that sort of debris only gets kicked up when it pops a building. #3 has a weird discoloration around the "tornado". Clouds in the sky are all wrong some don't even show rotation, the shape of #2 doesn't make sense (especially at the top).
AntaNce
Count the airborne cows
Andersen81
The lack of red hats shooting AR-15s at the tronado.
imnotinthewitnessprotectionprogram
Video games taught them to shoot at the baddie in the middle
Starlatan
I'm not sure you misspelled tornado there, but it's funny cuz it's true
Andersen81
First and last letter is right, everything inbetween is optional.
ElbowDeepInSaintCelestine
Toodaloo!
pothocket
Apparently the answer is literally "research if there was actually a tornado there"
Wow, awesome. Thanks for the great tip OP
arcontos
i mean to me its mostly looking at the bottom of the funnel then what is around it to see if it looks like how you would expect it to. some of those though should be obvious like the one in what i assume is the middle of nyc. personally the only one that threw me off was the cloud wall since iv never seen/heard of one being that low before.
CaptainScarfish
Oh no, you need to use critical thinking to figure out reality! Ahh the horror!
pothocket
That's not what 'critical thinking' is you fucking dumbass.
CaptainScarfish
Regardless, the age of being able to tell that a video is AI just from looking at it has come and gone. We knew right from the start that the technology would soon be good enough. We're back to using reputable sources and cross-referencing.
CaptainScarfish
Doing research, finding reputable sources, and cross-referencing data are all parts of critical thinking.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_thinking
"Critical thinking is an important element of all professional fields and academic disciplines (by referencing their respective sets of permissible questions, evidence sources, criteria, etc.)"
camn333
I have this issue with my wife every now and then. My solution: make her question where she got the information from. I always just ask her "who told you that, where did you read it"
It's usually just some random Instagram account, or a WhatsApp message that has been resent thousands of times from someone no one knows directly, instead of an actual news organization.
Thankfully she is catching up to it now. She does the homework of asking herself that.
eventide215
An important part is to just simply ask where it was heard from and show why that's wrong. The problem a lot of people have now is they will gladly treat you like a moron and such because you fell for it.. that doesn't help anyone. Don't blame them for falling for it. Show them how to better themselves so they don't fall for it again.
aducksayswhat
One of my gripes is that 24h news has become entertainment or background music to a lot of people, and getting people to do homework on some headline and shocking picture on something they just scrolled by on one of the many feeds is a tall order.
Zalm
It's designed that way for a number of reasons. With so many stories from all over, it takes time most people don't have to research authentic stories from fakes. There is also the problem of bad news is more profitable than feel good stuff. And the quote from andor applies as well.
southflhitnrun
I lost a friend from a WhatsApp group for calling out her fake chain forwarded messages.
I would just say "Please post the original story from a credible source or post the actual police press release for this so called crime spree."
She got pissed and left the group. Lol. I'm glad the misinformation is gone.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
eventide215
I love poking at these stories. Like it'll be talking about some crime spree but NOTHING about it makes sense so I just start poking at all the problems. Then when they get mad I'm just left like you, like you should have posted the source.. but you don't have one because even you know it's likely fake. At least properly tell people like "I *heard* there was a crime spree at __? Haven't looked into it yet though."
XEtAl
I've made some people in my friend group angry by repeatedly asking for sources for their information. They would only ever post a screenshot of a headline 🙄, so I ask "can I get the full link?" Usually they reply "do you not know how Google works?"
Sorry, not my job. They're the ones claiming it's true.
Now, they have started posting full links just to shut me up.
Hate me for it, cry about it, I don't care. Facts matter.
At least it has stopped them from posting (as much) misinformation.
southflhitnrun
https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExczA2Z2pyN200cDBpbzljMGJzc2pkYnZkODB2dnU5eHBidHg2ZTk1aiZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/Ld77zD3fF3Run8olIt/giphy.gif
Ree81
I do that too. However, one thing I've learned is that it's not the person "claiming a true thing" that needs to source, but rather "the person saying something that seems out of the ordinary".
So like, "the sun is round" isn't really something out of the ordinary. But sure, a lot of crap on social media is literally just clickbait, created to be as 'shocking' as possible, because we humans react to anything out of the ordinary. Hateful stuff is unfortunately the most engaging...
Ree81
People really hate being told they're wrong. I do too (the very few times I'm wrong ;) ), but I'm trying to better myself all the time. Assumption is a bitch.
XEtAl
We all have flaws. We all carry bias. The better we are at identifying them, the better we become at preventing them from negatively impacting our society.
People hate being wrong because it is metabolically expensive to adapt to new information. Not everyone has the metabolic budget to afford adapting, and thus further entrench themselves in what they want to be true so as to preserve that energy for more important things in their life.
spittleteets
AMAZING communicating! I think everyone should do this more.
Asking questions so that others arrive at the conclusion independently is such a great intervention as it doesn't just give them answers, it gives them tools to be critical on their own!
Clinically referred to as "guided discovery", this engagement is not only a cornerstone of CBT, it's been practiced for millenia, more commonly referred to as socratic questioning or socratic method.
eventide215
I ask people so many questions and I've had people that get mad about it saying things like "Is this an interview??" No.. I just want you to actually think about what I asked.. so many people now just don't bother to think for themselves. So many are used to everyone else just "helping" them. A lot of times I'll purposefully frame my questions in a way that there's no prejudice in it. So they can't be influenced by even how I asked it.
spittleteets
Yesss, isnt it wild how seemingly instantaneous people jump into a defensive stance? I do think a lot of it has to do with the politcal and media ecosystems, regardless of party and format. How much is manufactured and organic, only time will tell. That's a whole other convo, but I agree that this "helping" phenomena is a thing, and idk, IMO it feels like a psychosocial coping mech "battery saver". Too much info + too much vitriol + too much crisis = not enough psycho/emotional currency (1/2)
spittleteets
To spend on exploring a topic. *ESPECIALLY* if you weren't taught those skills growing up. Let's be honest, putting the racism, toxicity, and negative attributes aside, the reason why people like Trump, the GOP, and most authoritarians is because they have simple, easy answers. It's ideological room service, "No need to tidy up or cook, we'll take care of it for you! You just enjoy yourself". But I digress, AGAIN, what I really wanted to share was that I just got a haircut (2/3)
spittleteets
I sit in the chair, Barber and I start our chat, early morning, empty shop, topic slides into politics, Barber says, "...not like that piece of shit Mamdani, y'hear what he say?", I nod and say, "why's he a piece of shit?", Barber: "Because he's a piece of shit", Me: "Yeah, but why?", "Bro c'mon he's a shithead", look in the mirror like "are we gonna argue again", (he's 1of2 barbers within 30mins and the other one is shit), "Beautiful day today?" I said quickly. TBH to have him give me that look
eventide215
It starts with how they were raised. Many parents now don't let their kids really problem solve or gain critical thinking skills. Schools also aren't bothering to really teach these things either. So then it's left up to harsh reality checks.. which don't normally take effect until they're like 25+ because until then they think it's just everyone else that's a problem. Outside of that I think the issue is more about how people are forced to believe things now. Like you HAVE to be political..
spittleteets
I'm gonna push back and say that while it may not look it on the US' National level, on the state and local levels there has been a shift in momentum in regards to critical media literacy policy. https://medialiteracynow.org/new-u-s-media-literacy-report-finds-state-media-literacy-policy-accelerating-as-lawmakers-respond-to-phones-social-media-and-ai/
I would also say that not being political is how we got here. We fell asleep at the wheel bc people wanted someone else to help!!
XEtAl
What do you mean "HAVE to be political"? Can you cite instances where ubiquitous involvement in politics has been the predominant problem? I'm willing to concede participation perpetuates systemic problems, but intuitively that makes little sense to me. If you're referring to political involvement motivated by misinformation, then the involvement isn't the issue, the misinformation is. Excising victims of misinformation is probably not the solution.