You’ve probably spotted them on your socials - incredible animal videos showing polar bears throwing a cub onto a boat, foxes begging humans for help or an elephant trying to save a tiger during floods.
The clips are hugely popular and very shareable because they show adorable animals doing incredible things worthy of a Hollywood movie. And that’s exactly the problem - many of them aren’t real.
Wildlife explorer, biologist and TV presenter Steve Backshall is concerned about the AI animal videos that are all over our timelines and the fact that they’re becoming increasingly realistic. On his Instagram page recently he warned his followers about what he described as the “Disneyfication of nature” and “animal soap operas”.
BBC Bitesize Other Side of the Story asked Steve for his advice on what to watch out for. So how do you spot the fakes?
Why should we be concerned about AI animal videos?
Steve believes these “AI slop” videos could be “incredibly harming”. When we’re watching them, he says it’s important to question if what we’re seeing is real, and educate ourselves on how to tell the difference.
He told Other Side of the Story: “Let’s face it, if we allow ourselves to be manipulated into believing that some kinds of animals are monsters and that others are out to get us then why on earth would we want to save those animals?”
Developments in AI technology mean these videos are becoming increasingly realistic. Not all of them are clearly labelled as AI - and Steve is concerned that this could affect our understanding of what is real in nature and what isn’t.
He continued: “A year ago I would see an AI video and say ‘wow that’s quite cool, obviously AI but it’s still quite cool’ and now I see things and, as a biologist who’s been working in the field for 30 years, have to do a double take and stop and work out if it is real.
“It’s really important that we understand what our natural world is all about. First of all there are plenty of miracles in the natural world that are just as exciting as anything people could conjure up.
“Secondly, if we’re creating a false image of what nature is, it’s just very, very hard for us to really figure out what’s real, what’s not real, what’s worth saving, what isn’t worth saving - and sometimes we get completely the wrong impression of what animals are.”
Steve Backshall’s tips on how to spot an AI animal video:
Think critically
If it’s something that seems too good to be true - it probably is.
Steve says: “The first thing I would say to be wary of is if the animal is a big snake, a big shark, a big crocodile, something obvious and potentially scary.
There’s an awful lot of stuff out there that is working with our greatest, most natural fears and playing on them."Check who posted it
Steve says: “Have a little look at who that post comes from. Does it come from a really reputable source like the BBC or National Geographic? Is it from a website name that is very similar to that but not quite?
"If it is, in all likelihood that will be a sham.”Look at the background
In one video you might have seen on your socials, an elephant saves a tiger during flash floods - but there’s some very slick camera work going on, given that it’s meant to be in raging floodwaters.
Steve says: “Check whether the background is constantly moving and whether it’s stable.”Think about who filmed it - and why
Steve says: “If you’re seeing something that appears to be at night with a camera on a tripod up close to, for example a puma walking into someone’s tent, why is that being filmed? Is there someone there with a camera? Is this supposed to be CCTV?
"If so, why? Why on earth would that camera be there in the first place?”Look closely at objects in the video
“Have a little look at how objects relate with each other. Is something sitting on the head of a person and that person isn’t moving? Is there an area that appears to be slightly pixelated in the picture?
"Is there some area of the shot that isn’t quite working as it would do in the natural world? If so all of those things are cause for caution.”Do your research
Finally, it’s important to do your own research. Check the comments of the video and hashtags to see if it’s labelled as AI.
Steve says: “If you see something that’s really dramatic, search for it online and see what the response is.
"Quite often you’ll get a response that comes up and says ‘this is AI slop’ or you may well find from a very reputable website, like the BBC’s website, that this happened, that this is a real thing that happened in the natural world.
"In that case, then what you’re looking at might well be something special.”
This article was published in April 2026
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