From Bulin 47's freestyle to AI montages: 9 clues to tell whether a viral video is real

This week, a freestyle by Dominican artist Bulin 47 trended across social media, and not only because of the music. Many of the versions that spread were paired with montages made with artificial intelligence: impossible scenes, celebrity faces in made-up situations and animations that, at first glance, looked like they were filmed with a real camera. Some viewers took them for what they were, a creative game; others shared them convinced they were genuine.

It isn't an isolated case. AI video tools have improved so much in the past two years that asking "is this real?" has become part of our daily digital routine. The good news is that there are still clues that give most fakes away. These are the ones professional fact-checkers use.

1. Look at hands, teeth and ears

They remain the Achilles' heel of many tools. Fingers that merge together or change in number from one frame to the next, teeth that look like a single block, or earrings that appear and disappear are classic signs.

2. Check the background

AI tends to focus its detail on the main subject. In the background, signs contain meaningless letters, people warp as they walk, and objects change shape. Pause the video and study the edges.

3. Watch the physics

Water that doesn't splash the way it should, hair that ignores the wind, shadows pointing in different directions, or reflections that don't match the scene. Our brains often sense that "something's off" before we know what it is: trust that feeling and look again.

4. Listen closely

Cloned voices often sound too clean, with flat intonation or breaths that don't match the movement of the chest. Also check whether the lips stay in sync with every syllable.

5. Length and cuts

Many generators produce clips just a few seconds long. If a video is stitched together from very short fragments with frequent cuts and no long continuous shot, that can be a sign of a montage.

6. Look for a watermark or label

Some AI platforms add visible watermarks or invisible metadata (such as C2PA content credentials). Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube also ask creators to label realistic AI-generated content and show notices such as "AI info" or "Altered or synthetic content". Check the caption and labels before you share.

7. Trace the source

Ask yourself who posted the video first. Screenshot key frames and search them with Google Lens, TinEye or Bing image search. If the original clip turns up on the account of a creator who makes AI art, you have your answer.

8. Be wary of anything that makes you too angry or too emotional

Fakes that go viral usually play on strong emotions: outrage, fear, overwhelming cuteness. That instant reaction makes us share without thinking. If a video gives you an urgent itch to forward it, that's exactly the moment to stop for ten seconds.

9. Check with fact-checkers

Teams such as AFP Fact Check, Reuters Fact Check, PolitiFact, Snopes and Full Fact do this every day. If an important video is spreading widely, chances are they've already looked at it.

Do automatic detectors work?

There are online tools that promise to tell you whether an image or video was AI-generated. They can be useful as a guide, but no detector is foolproof: they flag compressed real photos as fake and miss brand-new content. Treat them as one more clue, never as definitive proof.

Creating with AI isn't the problem

The Bulin 47 case has a positive side: many creators used AI to make tributes, parodies and fun animations, and said so openly. The problem arises when content is presented as real in order to deceive, damage someone's reputation or manipulate people. That's why platforms require labels, and why it pays for all of us, as an audience, to get into the habit of asking one simple question before sharing: where did this come from?

A habit for the whole family

Older adults and teenagers are the groups most exposed to fakes, for different reasons. Teaching these tricks at home, with real examples, is one of the best ways to guard against scams that already use cloned voices and faces of relatives to ask for money. If you get an urgent call or video from a loved one asking for a transfer, hang up and call them back on their usual number.