AI Videos Invade Local News As Realism Becomes Indistinguishable
A Mainstream Broadcaster Aired an AI-Generated Crash Video, Showcasing a New Threat to Journalistic Standards.
In a striking demonstration of digital deception, an AI-generated racetrack incident fooled a major local news outlet and raises urgent questions about the integrity of visual media in 2025.
A routine segment on NBC Chicago turned extraordinary when the station broadcast a clip of multiple cars crashing due to a purported power‐outage at a racetrack. The video — in fact, a synthetic creation produced using the Sora 2 text-to-video generator — was traced to a satirical Facebook page whose author was experimenting with realism in AI video. Professor Wael Abd-Almageed warns that we live in an era where seeing is no longer believing; the barrier between real footage and generated content is collapsing.
The Broader Trend: “AI Slop”
Beyond this individual slip-up lies a systemic challenge: the rise of what experts call “AI slop” — a mass production of AI-generated videos for social media and other platforms. These are cheap to make, high in volume, and exhibit enough realism that they can surreptitiously influence opinion, push narratives, or simply flood the public sphere with noise. Former employees of the technology industry concede that once the video-creation genie is out of the bottle, reversing the tide will be extremely difficult.
Implications For News, Governance And Trust
When a mainstream news organisation can be duped by a synthetic clip, the implications extend far beyond embarrassment. The danger multiplies when such visuals are used in election campaigns, emergency response scenarios, or financial market manipulations. Newsrooms are understaffed, fact-checking is under pressure, and the promise of speed often displaces rigour. The result: a vulnerability that adversaries could exploit.
What Can Be Done?
Detection tools and AI-screening processes are being developed, but experts caution those are playing catch-up. The platforms that host video content are still adapting policy, and the rapid improvement in generation quality raises the bar for verification each time. Audiences must also become more sceptical — the “trust the footage” assumption is outdated.
The clip that fooled NBC Chicago may have been harmless — a prank, or a test of the waters. But it is a red flag. The convergence of realistic AI video, vulnerable media workflows, and the erosion of trust signals a moment of reckoning. Are we prepared for the day when a convincing fake is used to shift public opinion, disrupt markets or incite panic?
Call To Action
Media professionals, regulators and platform operators must collaborate urgently to sharpen detection, enforce transparency and preserve the public’s right to know what is real — and what is not.
