AI video shows lion walking on Mandela Bridge
In this day and age, anything can appear real with the help of AI, but you just have to have the eye to see through it.
We cannot say we are completely shocked when we see a lion walking the streets—that's a lie. We would get tongue-tied if we saw a lion roaming the streets of Jozi.
Even though that's happened before, it isn't a regular occurrence, despite what many Americans believe.
Nowadays, it is difficult to decipher what is natural and what isn't on the internet. Even though the doctoring of images and videos has been around for a long time, with the power of artificial intelligence, most especially with the aid of AI generators, anything can be made to look like it's real.
It seems a Johannesburg TikTok content creator has tried to fool people into believing that a lion, who many are calling Simba, was seen walking on the Nelson Mandela Bridge.
Now, as much as we are prone to defending our wildlife, we are not that advanced to accept them living in the concrete jungle. It's not safe for them to be walking around our streets nor is it conducive to peak time traffic.
We like to keep our traffic time for the radio, and hooter challenges, not so much rubbernecking a lion.
Watch the video on TikTok posted by Katlego Tsebiso:
@katlegotsebiso_ Bathong Joburg, what’s happening ?? #fyp #tiktoksouthafrica ♬ original sound - 𝑲𝑨𝑻 ♛
Many people spotted the 'fakery' immediately, while others believed it or at least acted like they did.
One security guard said: "I am security here in Jozi, like right now behind Bree Rank next to Mandela Bridge Newtown, and it's been overcast since yesterday. Nobody did this."
It is always disappointing to see how far people will go to fool others on social media, or cause a stir to go viral.
In this case, it worked because the video garnered over 1.7-million views and was shared on X, not to mention it appeared on the search bar on TikTok, meaning users were searching to verify if this was real.
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Image Courtesy of TikTok