New Delhi: A viral social-media video allegedly showing a Mahindra Thar smashing into an overhead highway signboard in Delhi has been debunked as artificial-intelligence-generated content, according to an investigation by the Press Trust of India (PTI) Fact Check Desk.
The clip, widely circulated across social platforms on February 18, claimed to depict a dramatic and unusual accident caused by high speed and loss of control. However, PTI’s verification found the incident never happened in the real world — it existed only in the digital imagination of AI tools.
🔍 How the Investigation Unfolded
PTI’s Fact Check team began by extracting keyframes from the viral video using forensic analysis tools. Reverse image searches through Google Lens quickly revealed the same footage circulating across multiple accounts with identical claims.
The search trail led investigators to an Instagram account, viiztrrix, which had uploaded the same video on February 18, 2026. Crucially, the uploader had already disclosed in the description that the clip was AI-generated — a detail that mysteriously disappeared once the video spread elsewhere.
Further technical scrutiny uncovered visual inconsistencies, including:
- Nonsensical text appearing on the highway signboard
- A vehicle number plate not matching standard Indian registration formats
- Unrealistic rendering artefacts typical of synthetic video
To confirm the suspicion, PTI ran the footage through AI-detection platforms including Hive Moderation and Truth Scan. Both tools strongly flagged the clip as synthetic, with Hive estimating a 99.9% probability of AI-generated or deepfake content.
🚨 Claim vs Reality
Claim: Viral video shows a real highway accident in Delhi where a car struck an overhead signboard.
Fact: The video is AI-generated and does not depict any real-world incident.
🧠 The Bigger Picture: When Viral Meets Virtual
The episode highlights a growing challenge for viewers and newsrooms alike — the rapid spread of hyper-realistic AI videos that look convincing enough to fool even seasoned internet users.
In this case, the rugged reputation of the Thar may have helped the story travel faster. After all, the SUV is known for conquering mountains and deserts — not for taking flying lessons with highway signage.
PTI’s Fact Check Desk concluded that the viral video claiming to show a Delhi highway crash was fabricated using artificial intelligence and shared misleadingly as a real incident.
As AI tools become more sophisticated, experts advise viewers to verify sensational clips before sharing — because sometimes the biggest crash isn’t on the highway, it’s in the misinformation chain.
