#FactCheck -AI-Generated Video Falsely Shared as IAF Pilot Complaining After Sukhoi-30 Crash
Executive Summary
A video circulating widely on social media claims to show a pilot of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crying and expressing fear about flying fighter jets, allegedly citing poor maintenance and frequent crashes. The clip is being linked to the crash of an IAF Sukhoi-30 fighter jet in Assam on March 5, in which two pilots lost their lives. In the viral video, a man dressed like a pilot is seen speaking emotionally, saying that flying fighter jets has become frightening due to lack of maintenance and repeated accidents. Several users are sharing the clip claiming that the man in the video is an IAF pilot revealing the reality behind aircraft crashes. However, research by the CyberPeace found the claim to be false. The video does not depict a real pilot or an actual incident. Instead, it appears to be an AI-generated clip created and circulated with the intent to spread misinformation.
Claim:
An Instagram user, ‘samacharsaar0’, shared the viral video on March 10, 2026, with the English caption: “2300 aircraft crashes, 1300 pilots dead: A major challenge before the IAF.”
- Source: :https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVqa4lNiYJQ
- Archived link::https://perma.cc/EUZ8-DHE3
Fact Check:
The claim was also debunked by PIB Fact Check. While verifying the viral video, PIB clarified that the clip is artificially generated and not related to any real IAF personnel.
To further verify the authenticity of the video, we analyzed it using AI detection tools. The tool Hive Moderation indicated a 99.9% probability that the video was generated using artificial intelligence.
We also examined the clip using another AI detection platform, Undetectable. The analysis suggested an 82% likelihood that the video was created with AI tools. The tool also indicated the possibility that the footage may have been generated using the Sora AI video generation tool.
Conclusion
Our research concludes that the viral video of a crying “pilot” is not authentic. The clip has been created using artificial intelligence and is being misleadingly shared as a real Indian Air Force pilot speaking about aircraft crashes. The government has also denied the claim associated with the video.
Related Blogs
The global race for Artificial Intelligence is heating up, and India has become one of its most important battlegrounds. Over the past few months, tech giants like OpenAI (ChatGPT), Google (Gemini), X (Grok), Meta (Llama), and Perplexity AI have stepped up their presence in the country, not by selling their AI tools, but by offering them free or at deep discounts.
At first, it feels like a huge win for India’s digital generation. Students, professionals, and entrepreneurs today can tap into some of the world’s most powerful AI tools without paying a rupee. It feels like a digital revolution unfolding in real time. Yet, beneath this generosity lies a more complicated truth. Experts caution that this wave of “free” AI access isn’t without strings attached. This offering impacts how India handles data privacy, the fairness of competition, and the pace of the development of homegrown AI innovation that the country is focusing on.
The Market Strategy: Free Now, Pay Later
The choice of global AI companies to offer free access in India is a calculated business strategy. With one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing digital populations, India is a market no tech giant wants to miss. By giving away their AI tools for free, these firms are playing a long game:
- Securing market share early: Flooding the market with free access helps them quickly attract millions of users before Indian startups have a chance to catch up. Recent examples are Perplexity, ChatGPT Go and Gemini AI which are offering free subscriptions to Indian users.
- Gathering local data: Every interaction, every prompt, question, or language pattern, helps these models learn from larger datasets to improve their product offerings in India and the rest of the world. Nothing is free in the world - as the popular saying goes, “if something is free, means you are the product. The same goes for these AI platforms: they monetise user data by analysing chats and their behaviour to refine their model and build paid products. This creates the privacy risk as India currently lacks specific laws to govern how such data is stored, processed or used for AI training.
- Create user dependency: Once users grow accustomed to the quality and convenience of these global models, shifting to Indian alternatives, even when they become paid, will be difficult. This approach mirrors the “freemium” model used in other tech sectors, where users are first attracted through free access and later monetised through subscriptions or premium features, raising ethical concerns.
Impact on Indian Users
For most Indians, the short-term impact of free AI access feels overwhelmingly positive. Tools like ChatGPT and Gemini are breaking down barriers by democratising knowledge and making advanced technology available to everyone, from students, professionals, to small businesses. It’s changing how people learn, think and do - all without spending a single rupee.But the long-term picture isn’t quite as simple. Beneath the convenience lies a set of growing concerns:
- Data privacy risks: Many users don’t realise that their chats, prompts, or queries might be stored and used to train global AI models. Without strong data protection laws in action, sensitive Indian data could easily find its way into foreign systems.
- Overdependence on foreign technology: Once these AI tools become part of people’s daily lives, moving away from them gets harder — especially if free access later turns into paid plans or comes with restrictive conditions.
- Language and cultural bias: Most large AI models are still built mainly around English and Western data. Without enough Indian language content and cultural representation, the technology risks overlooking the very diversity that defines India
Impact on India’s AI Ecosystem
India’s Generative AI market, valued at USD $ 1.30 billion in 2024, is projected to reach 5.40 billion by 2033. Yet, this growth story may become uneven if global players dominate early.
Domestic AI startups face multiple hurdles — limited funding, high compute costs, and difficulty in accessing large, diverse datasets. The arrival of free, GPT-4-level models sharpens these challenges by raising user expectations and increasing customer acquisition costs.
As AI analyst Kashyap Kompella notes, “If users can access GPT-4-level quality at zero cost, their incentive to try local models that still need refinement will be low.” This could stifle innovation at home, resulting in a shallow domestic AI ecosystem where India consumes global technology but contributes little to its creation.
CCI’s Intervention: Guarding Fair Competition
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has started taking note of how global AI companies are shaping India’s digital market. In a recent report, it cautioned that AI-driven pricing strategies such as offering free or heavily subsidised access could distort healthy competition and create an uneven playing field for smaller Indian developers.
The CCI’s decision to step in is both timely and necessary. Without proper oversight, such tactics could gradually push homegrown AI startups to the sidelines and allow a few foreign tech giants to gain disproportionate influence over India’s emerging AI economy.
What the Indian Government Should Do
To ensure India’s AI landscape remains competitive, inclusive, and innovation-driven, the government must adopt a balanced strategy that safeguards users while empowering local developers.
1. Promote Fair Competition
The government should mandate transparency in free access offers, including their duration, renewal terms, and data-use policies. Exclusivity deals between foreign AI firms and telecom or device companies must be closely monitored to prevent monopolistic practices.
2. Strengthen Data Protection
Under the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, companies should be required to obtain explicit consent from users before using data for model training. Encourage data localisation, ensuring that sensitive Indian data remains stored within India’s borders.
3. Support Domestic AI Innovation
Accelerate the implementation of the IndiaAI Mission to provide public compute infrastructure, open datasets, and research funding to local AI developers like Sarvam AI, an Indian company chosen by the government to build the country's first homegrown large language model (LLM) under IndianAI Mission.
4. Create an Open AI Ecosystem
India should develop national AI benchmarks to evaluate all models, foreign or domestic, on performance, fairness, and linguistic diversity. And at the same time, they have their own national data Centre to train their indigenous AI models.
5. Encourage Responsible Global Collaboration
Speaking at the AI Action Summit 2025, the Prime Minister highlighted that governance should go beyond managing risks and should also promote innovation for the global good. Building on this idea, India should encourage global AI companies to invest meaningfully in the country’s ecosystem through research labs, data centres, and AI education programmes. Such collaborations will ensure that these partnerships not only expand markets but also create value, jobs and knowledge within India.
Conclusion
The surge of free AI access across India represents a defining moment in the nation’s digital journey. On one hand, it’s empowering millions of people and accelerating AI awareness like never before. On the other hand, it poses serious challenges from over-reliance on foreign platforms to potential risks around data privacy and the slow growth of local innovation. India’s real test will be finding the right balance between access and autonomy, allowing global AI leaders to innovate and operate here, but within a framework that protects the interests of Indian users, startups, and data ecosystems. With strong and timely action under the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, the IndiaAI Mission, and the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) active oversight, India can make sure this AI revolution isn’t just something that happens to the country, but for it.
References
- https://www.moneycontrol.com/artificial-intelligence/cci-study-flags-steep-barriers-for-indian-ai-startups-calls-for-open-data-and-compute-access-to-level-playing-field-article-13600606.html#
- https://www.imarcgroup.com/india-generative-ai-market
- https://www.mea.gov.in/Speeches-Statements.htm?dtl/39020/Opening_Address_by_Prime_Minister_Shri_Narendra_Modi_at_the_AI_Action_Summit_Paris_February_11_2025
- https://m.economictimes.com/tech/artificial-intelligence/nasscom-planning-local-benchmarks-for-indic-ai-models/articleshow/124218208.cms
- https://indianexpress.com/article/business/centre-selects-start-up-sarvam-to-build-country-first-homegrown-ai-model-9967243/#
Amid reports that the death toll in Iran’s ongoing protests has risen to 2,571, a video has been widely circulated on social media showing a man slapping a person dressed in clerical attire after an argument. Users sharing the clip claim that public anger in Iran has escalated to the point where people are now physically attacking religious clerics. However, research by the Cyber Peace Foundation has found this claim to be misleading. The research established that the video is not recent and has no connection to the current protests in Iran. In fact, the clip dates back to 2021 and was entirely scripted.
Claim
On January 14, 2026, users on X (formerly Twitter) shared the viral video with captions suggesting that Iranian citizens are openly assaulting clerics amid the ongoing unrest. One such post stated that the situation in Iran had deteriorated so badly that people were now beating religious leaders.
The link, archived version, and screenshot of the post are available below:
Factcheck:
To verify the authenticity of the claim, the Cyber Peace Foundation extracted keyframes from the viral video and conducted a Google reverse image search. This led investigators to a report published on April 19, 2021, on the Persian-language website of Deutsche Welle (DW). The visuals matched the viral clip exactly, confirming that the footage is nearly five years old, not recent. Here is the link to the original video, along with a screenshot:
Further examination of reports by Fars News Agency revealed that Tehran police had conducted a detailed probe into the video at the time and declared it fake and pre-scripted. According to Tehran Police Chief Hossein Rahimi, the individual seen wearing religious attire was not a cleric. Here is the link to the original video, along with a screenshot: He was actually employed at a carpet cleaning shop in Tehran, while the man seen slapping him was his own son.
Police stated that the video was deliberately staged and circulated to provoke public sentiment and create unrest by falsely linking it to religious tensions. Both the father and son were arrested, and images of them in police custody were published in contemporaneous reports. Additional confirmation was found on the Independent Persian website, which had also reported on the incident on April 19, 2021, reiterating that the video was fabricated and unrelated to any protest movement. Here is the link to the original video, along with a screenshot:
Conclusion
The claim that the viral video shows an Iranian protester slapping a cleric during the current wave of protests is false. The video is from 2021, was scripted, and has no link to the ongoing demonstrations in Iran. It is being reshared with a misleading narrative to spread disinformation and inflame public sentiment.c
Executive Summary
A picture allegedly showing Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) owner Kavya Maran emotionally hugging young cricketer Vaibhav Suryavanshi has gone viral on social media. The image is being shared as a genuine photograph from a cricket-related event, with users claiming that Kavya Maran was seen embracing Vaibhav Suryavanshi. However, CyberPeace Research Wing research found the claim to be false. No credible news reports, official statements, or authentic photographs support the incident depicted in the viral image.
Claim
A Facebook user shared the viral image with the caption: “Kavya Maran Hug Vaibhav Suryavanshi 🥰🔥 #cricketnews #RRvsSRH” The link to the post and its screenshot are provided below.
Fact Check
During the research, we found no credible news reports, official statements, or authentic images confirming that Kavya Maran hugged Vaibhav Suryavanshi as shown in the viral picture. To further verify the image, it was analysed using AI detection tools, including Sightengine and Hive Moderation. Both tools indicated a high probability that the image was generated using Artificial Intelligence. The findings suggest that the viral photograph is not a genuine image captured at a real event but a digitally created visual.
Conclusion
Our research found that the viral image showing Kavya Maran emotionally hugging Vaibhav Suryavanshi is not authentic. The picture was generated using AI and does not depict a real incident.
