Was Orca trainer Jessica Radcliffe really killed by a killer whale? The truth about the viral story

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00:00Viral videos that purport to show a female orca trainer being killed by a killer whale at an

00:09aquatic park have spread like wildfire across social media. The viral clips began making rounds

00:14on social media platforms like TikTok, X, and Facebook in recent weeks and claim to show a

00:2023-year-old marine trainer named Jessica Radcliffe being gruesomely attacked and killed by an orca

00:27whale in the middle of a live performance at the Pacific Blue Marine Park. Several images also

00:33claimed to show Radcliffe being hunted down by the killer whale and even sickeningly show the orca

00:38covered in blood with a pair of human arms sticking out of its mouth. Soon the name Jessica Radcliffe

00:45began to trend and the story began to upset viewers everywhere. Horrible, right? Except it turns out the

00:52entire thing is fake. Outlets including Forbes and the International Business Times have identified

00:58that the videos and images are AI generated, even employing the use of AI generated voices to accompany

01:04the doctored footage. Many moments in the circulating videos also appear to have unnatural movements or

01:10physics that look strange to the naked eye, not to mention the Tarantino-esque levels of blood seen in

01:16some of the clips. Upon further investigation, there have been no official statements from any marine

01:21parks, police reports, or obituaries about such an incident. And perhaps the most damning, there is no

01:28credible evidence of an orca trainer named Jessica Radcliffe or even a Pacific Blue Marine Park

01:33existing. In short, the entire story seems to be an AI generated internet hoax. As fears grow about how AI

01:41might be used to spread misinformation online in the future, the viral story is a real-world example of

01:47how it's already happening. According to International Business Times, fake news stories will often borrow

01:53from real events in order to make them seem more plausible. In this case, there have been several

01:58high-profile cases of orca whales attacking their trainers. Back in 2010, one of SeaWorld Orlando's killer

02:05whales, Tilikum, made national headlines after grabbing orca trainer Dawn Brancho following a show

02:12and pulled her into the pool before she drowned. The real stories can provide fake stories, such as the

02:18case of the Jessica Radcliffe hoax, some legitimacy at first glance. And with social media companies

02:23providing little to no fact-checking, especially in identifying videos created by artificial intelligence,

02:29people seem to be left to discern for themselves what circulates online is real or not. And while an

02:35easily debunked story about a fake orca attack may seem like a harmless hoax, it begs the question,

02:41could AI leave us unable to tell fact from fiction? Presumably, this is just the beginning.