Fact Check: Viral Video of a Russian Man ‘Rescuing’ a Bear Cub Is AI-Generated

Verdict

False: The clip claiming to show a Russian-speaking man in a boat rescuing a bear cub from a drifting tree trunk was generated with artificial intelligence.

What happened

In November 2025 a short video showing a man in a boat appearing to rescue a bear cub from a drifting log circulated widely on social platforms. An X post on or before Nov. 13 drew millions of views before the account was set to private. Reverse-image searches found the same footage on Facebook, Instagram, Threads and archived X posts.

How investigators traced the clip

Investigators found an earlier upload of the same footage dated Oct. 20 on the Russian-language YouTube channel @pandavt, where the clip had roughly 9 million views. That upload included English-language narration that sounded synthetic and a YouTube description containing an automated credit, "Info from OpenAI." The credit indicates the visuals and audio were produced with OpenAI’s Sora 2 text-to-video model. OpenAI announced Sora 2’s updated release on Sept. 30, 2025.

Why the video is almost certainly AI-made

• The clip runs for exactly 15 seconds, matching Sora 2’s standard-user length limit for generated videos (25 seconds for higher-priced tiers).
• Visual artifacts: the man appears to wear watches on both wrists and makes physically inconsistent motions—he seems to accelerate and brake the outboard motor without reaching back far enough to control it.
• Audio clues: the English vocals sound unnatural and match other known AI-generated voice artifacts.
• Pattern of uploads: the same channel posted multiple short fabricated clips of people interacting with animals (tigers, bear cubs, etc.), often with similar synthetic audio.

Context and related examples

Similar staged or AI-created animal-rescue clips have become common on video platforms and are often repurposed across channels to chase viral views. Fact-checkers have previously examined other animal videos—both authentic and manipulated—underscoring the importance of verifying dramatic clips before sharing.

How to verify viral animal videos

• Run a reverse-image or frame search to locate earlier uploads.
• Check video descriptions and automated credits for text such as "generated by" or mentions of AI tools.
• Look for visual inconsistencies (unnatural motion, duplicated accessories, mismatched lighting or shadows) and audio artifacts.
• Verify whether the clip’s runtime matches known limits of text-to-video tools (e.g., 15 seconds for standard Sora 2 outputs).

Sources

OpenAI announcement for Sora 2 (Sept. 30, 2025): https://openai.com/index/sora-2/

PCMag coverage: Peckham, James. "Sora 2 Now Lets You Make 15-Second Clips, 25 Seconds for $200 Pro Users." PCMag, Oct. 16, 2025. https://www.pcmag.com/news/sora-2-now-lets-you-make-15-second-clips-25-seconds-for-200-pro-users

Archived social posts and the Oct. 20 @pandavt YouTube upload (as cited in platform archives and reverse-image searches).

Bottom line

The viral bear-rescue clip is not authentic. Multiple lines of evidence—automatic credits to OpenAI’s Sora 2, synthetic-sounding audio, visual artifacts and the clip’s exact 15-second length—indicate the footage was generated with AI rather than captured in the real world.