AI-generated video of birds nesting in gold jewellery is being falsely shared as real
A video (here, here and here) showing two birds in a nest made of gold jewellery is going viral on social media with the claim that the birds allegedly stole more than one kilogram of gold from three jewellery shops on Bangalore’s High Court Road. According to the viral posts, the jewellers discovered the nest and decided to recover the gold only after the baby birds hatched. It is also claimed that the shop owners increased security around the tree to prevent further loss. Let’s find out the truth behind this video.
Claim: The viral video shows birds making a nest out of stolen gold jewellery worth over 1 kg from shops on Bangalore’s High Court Road.
Fact: The video is AI-generated and was originally posted on 01 April 2025, by Instagram user Surendra Garhwal, who identifies as a digital creator and AI art enthusiast. There is no evidence of any real incident involving birds stealing gold. Hence, the claim is FALSE.
As many users in the comments were mocking the video and suggesting it was AI-generated, we conducted a reverse image search on Google. This led us to the original source, an Instagram reel uploaded by the handle @surendra_garhwal, who has 1.4 million followers. The video was posted on 01 April 2025, and according to his bio, he describes himself as a digital creator and an AI & Art enthusiast.
We then used the AI detection tool Hive to analyse the video, which showed a 92% aggregate score, indicating that the video was highly likely to be AI-generated.
We then checked Surendra Garhwal’s Instagram account, and found that he had posted several other AI-generated videos, all of which were highly realistic and well-crafted. His content is gaining significant traction — the source video has garnered 8.7 million views and 1.24 lakh likes so far.
To sum up, an AI-generated video of birds nesting in gold jewellery is being falsely shared as real.