#FactCheck - Viral Video of ‘Hatha Yogi’ Meditating on Snowy Mountain Is AI-Generated

Introduction

The AI Action Summit is a global forum that brings together world leaders, policymakers, technology experts, and industry representatives to discuss AI governance, ethics, and its role in society. This year, the week-long  Paris AI Action Summit officially culminated on the 11th of February, 2025. It brought together experts from the industry, policymakers, and other dignitaries to discuss Artificial Intelligence and its challenges. The event was co-chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron. In line with the summit, the Indian delegation actively engaged in the 2nd India-France AI Policy Roundtable, an official side event of the summit, and the 14th India-France CEOs Forum. These discussions were on diverse sectors including defense, aerospace, technology, etc. among other things.

Prime Minister Modi’s Address 

During the AI Action Summit in Paris, Prime Minister Narendra Modi drew attention to the revolutionary effect of AI in politics, the economy, security, and society. Stressing the requirement of international cooperation, he promoted strong frameworks of governance to combat AI-based risks and consequently, build public confidence in new technologies. Needed efforts with respect to cybersecurity issues such as deepfakes and disinformation were also acknowledged. 

Democratising AI, and sharing its benefits, particularly with the Global South not only aligned with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) but also affirmed India’s resolve towards sharing expertise and best practices. India’s remarkable feat of creating a Digital Public Infrastructure,  that caters to a population of 1.4 billion through open and accessible technology was highlighted as well.

Among the key announcements, India revealed its plans to create its own Large Language Model (LLM) that reflects the country's linguistic diversity, strengthening its AI aspirations. Further, India will be hosting the next AI Action Summit, reaffirming its position in international AI leadership. The Prime Minister also welcomed France's initiatives, such as the launch of the "AI Foundation" and the "Council for Sustainable AI", initiated by President Emmanuel Macron. He emphasized the necessity to extend the Global Partnership for AI and to get it more representative and inclusive so that Global South voices are actually incorporated into AI innovation and governance.

Other Perspectives

Though there were 58 countries that signed the international agreement on a more open, inclusive, sustainable, and ethical approach to AI development (including India, France, and China), the UK and the US have refused to sign the international agreement at the AI Summit stating their issues with global governance and national security. While the former raised concerns about the lack of sufficient details regarding the establishment of global AI governance and AI’s effect on national security as their reason, the latter showcased its reservations about the overly wide AI regulations which had the potential to hamper a transformative industry. Meanwhile, the US is also looking forward to ‘Stargate’, its $500 billion AI infrastructure project alongside the companies- OpenAI, Softbank, and Oracle. 

CyberPeace Insights

The Summit has garnered greater significance with the backdrop of the release of platforms such as DeepSeek R1, China’s AI assistant system similar to that of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. On its release, it was the top-rated free application on Apple’s app store and sent the technology stocks tumbling. Moreover, investors world over appreciated the creation of the model which was made roughly in about $5 million while other AI companies spent more in comparison (keeping in mind the restrictions caused by the chip export controls in China). This breakthrough challenges the conventional notion that massive funding is a prerequisite for innovation, offering hope for India’s burgeoning AI ecosystem. With the IndiaAI mission and fewer geopolitical restrictions, India stands at a pivotal moment to drive responsible AI advancements. 

References:

• https://www.mea.gov.in/press-releases.htm?dtl/39023/Prime_Minister_cochairs_AI_Action_Summit_in_Paris_February_11_2025
• https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-sci-tech/what-is-stargate-trumps-500-billion-ai-project-9793165/
• https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2102056
• https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2101947
• https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2101896
• https://www.timesnownews.com/technology-science/uk-and-us-decline-to-sign-global-ai-agreement-at-paris-ai-action-summit-here-is-why-article-118164497 
• https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/india-57-others-sign-paris-joint-statement-on-inclusive-sustainable-ai/article69207937.ece 

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Executive Summary:

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A video circulating on Social media has claimed that Iran has launched a missile strike destroying Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. With rising tensions in geopolitics, the video quickly became popular. However, our research has detailed inspections through digital verification tools and visual analysis showed that the video is AI-generated. No incident or damage ever occurred. 

Claim:

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A viral video circulating on social media platforms claims to show Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport destroyed following an Iranian missile strike. The video is being shared with captions suggesting it is the last recorded visuals from the attack, with some users asserting it as evidence of escalating conflict between Iran and Israel.

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Fact Check:

After looking into the video that purported to show the destruction of Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport in an Iranian missile strike, we researched the topic whether the claim is accurate or not. The video depicts a damaged airport terminal, with debris and fires, but a visual analysis determined that there were a number of suspicious characteristics: asymmetrical layout, artificial-looking smoke patterns, and the absence of activity or humans—those are all typical indications of AI generation. Our research traced the origins of the video to an Instagram post, with a date of May 27, 2025, made by what seems to be a user who frequently shares AI-generated images. 

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In order to verify our conclusions, we used Hive Moderation, an AI content detection tool, which produced a result of an 80% probability that the video is altered, and this level of probability strongly supports the idea that the footage is not real. Additionally, reports from popular organizations like India Today and Reuters supported these results. All findings resulting from our research established that the video is synthetic and unrelated to any event occurring at Ben Gurion Airport, and therefore debunked a false narrative propagated on social media. 

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To confirm, we also compared the visuals with a real aerial image of Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport available on aviation stock sites.

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Fig: Google Maps image of Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport

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The visuals from the viral video are not real locations or scenes of Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport's true location and configuration therefore it is fake and misleading.

Conclusion:

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After thorough research it is concluded that the viral video is fake and it is not an actual missile strike at Ben Gurion Airport. The video is made with AI, and posted by a content creator of synthetic content well before any conflict update. There is no official confirmation or credible news coverage to substantiate the claim, with a high probability of AI-detection, and it has been proven to be digitally manipulated. Therefore, the claim is untrue and misleading.

• Claim: A video shows Iran's missile strike destroying Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.
• Claimed On: Social Media
• Fact Check: False and Misleading

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Introduction

Google India announced sachet loans on the Google Pay application to help small businesses in the country. Google India said that merchants in India often need smaller loans, hence, the tech giant launched sachet loans on the Gpay application. The company will provide loans to small businesses, which can be repaid in easier repayment instalments. To provide the load services, Google Pay has partnered with DMI Finance. This move comes at the Google for India, 2023, the flagship event to launch the Indian interventions planned by the big tech. 

What is a Sachet Loan? 

The loan system is the primary backbone of the global banking system. Since we have seen a massive transition towards the digital mode of transactions and banking operations, many online platforms have emerged. With the advent of QR codes, the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) has been rampantly used by Indians for making small or petty payments. Seeing this, Sachet loans made an advent as well, Sachet loans are essentially small-ticket loans ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 1 lakh, with repayment tenures between 7 days and 12 months. This nano-credit addresses immediate financial needs and is designed for swift approval and disbursement. Satchel loans are one of the most sought-after loan forms in the Western world. The ease of accessibility and easy repayment options have made it a successful form of money lending, which in turn has sparked the interest of the tech giant Google to execute similar operations in India. 

Google Pay

Pertaining to the fact that UPI payments are the most preferred form of online payment, google came out with GPay in 2013 and now enjoys a user base of 67 million Indians. Google Pay has a 36.10% mobile application market share in India, and 26% of the UPI payments made have been through Google Pay. Google Pay adoption for in-store payments in India was higher in 2023 than it was in early 2019, signalling a growing use among consumers. The numbers shown here refer to the share of respondents who indicated they used Google Pay in the last 12 months, either for POS transactions with a mobile device in stores and restaurants or for online shopping. Eight out of 10 respondents from India indicated they had used Google Pay in a POS setting between April 2022 and March 2023, with an additional seven out of 10 saying they used Google Pay during this same time for online payments.

Pertaining to the Indian spectrum, the following aspects should be kept into consideration: 

• PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm accounted for nearly 96% of all UPI transactions by value in March
• PhonePe remained the top UPI app, processing 407.63 Cr transactions worth INR 7.07 Lakh Cr
• While Google Pay and Paytm retained second and third positions, respectively, Amazon Pay pushed CRED to the fifth spot in terms of the number of transactions
• Walmart-owned PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm continued their dominance in India’s UPI payments space, together processing 94% of payments in March 2023.
• According to data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the top three apps accounted for nearly 96% of all UPI transactions by value. This translates to about 841.91 Cr transactions worth INR 13.44 Lakh Cr between the three apps.

Conclusion

The big tech giant Google.org has been fundamental in creating and provisioning best-in-class services which are easily accessible to all the netizens. Satchel loans are the new services introduced by the platform and the widespread access of Gpay will go a long way in providing financial services and ease to the deprived and needy lot of the Indian population. This transition can also be seen by other payment portals like Paypal and Paytm, which clearly shows India's massive potential in leading the world of online banking and UPI transactions. As per stats, 40% of global online banking transactions take place in India. These aspects, coupled with the cores of Digital India and Make in India, clearly show how India is the global destination for investment in the current era.  

References

• https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/google-enters-retail-loan-business-in-india-11697697999246.html
• https://www.statista.com/statistics/1389649/google-pay-adoption-in-india/#:~:text=Eight%20out%20of%2010%20respondents,same%20time%20for%20online%20payments
• https://playtoday.co/blog/stats/google-pay-statistics/#:~:text=67%20million%20active%20users%20of%20Google%20Pay%20are%20in%20India.&text=Google%20Pay%20users%20in%20India,in%2Dstore%20and%20online%20purchases.
• https://inc42.com/buzz/phonepe-google-pay-paytm-process-94-of-upi-transactions-march-2023/

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