Viral Videos Claiming Orca Killed Trainer Jessica Radcliffe Are AI-Generated
Several videos (here, here and here) are being widely shared on social media claiming that a marine trainer named Jessica Radcliffe was attacked and killed by an orca (killer whale) during a live show at a marine park. Let’s verify this claim through the article.
Claim: Videos of orca (killer whale) attacking and killing a marine trainer named Jessica Radcliffe.
Fact: No credible evidence supports the claim that an orca killed marine trainer Jessica Radcliffe. No marine park or official authority has reported such an incident. The viral videos have been circulating since at least January 2025, show different women in different locations, contain visible AI tool watermarks, and display clear visual inconsistencies. AI detection tools have also confirmed they are digitally created. Hence, the claim made in the posts is FALSE.
First, we searched the internet for credible news reports of such an incident occurring anywhere in August 2025, but found none. There were no statements or reports from any marine park or official authorities regarding such an event.
Next, we examined the viral videos and found that similar clips have been circulating online at least since January 2025 (here, here, here and here) across various social media platforms. These videos claim that orcas attacked and killed their trainers in multiple separate incidents.
However, these videos were created using AI video-generation tools such as Veo 3, with visible watermarks in the footage.
AI detection tools like SynthID and Hive also identified them as AI-generated. In addition, the descriptions of some of these videos explicitly state that they are digitally created.
Moreover, the videos allegedly showing Jessica Radcliffe being killed depict different women in different locations, further confirming that these are not authentic recordings of a real incident.
Upon closer inspection, inconsistencies such as distorted facial features, unnatural fingers, and malformed text are visible, which are clear indicators of AI-generated content rather than real footage.
However, incidents of orcas attacking and, in some cases, killing trainers have been documented in the past. These can be read about here and here.
To sum it up, AI-generated videos shared as showing the death of a marine trainer named Jessica Radcliffe during a live orca show.