Media Outlets Misreport AI Video As Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau Eruption

Several media outlets, including NDTV Profit and The Times of India, recently published a video showing people panicking as a volcano erupts, falsely claiming that it captures visuals of the recent Anak Krakatau eruption in Indonesia.

BOOM found that the video was synthetically generated using artificial intelligence. AI detection tools, including NVIDIA and Hive AI Detector, detected AI-generated content in the video.

The recent eruption of Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau volcano disrupted flight operations as volcanic ash spread to the capital Jakarta and Lampung province. The volcano remained seismically active throughout the weekend. Indonesia reopened five airports after midnight on September 8, following disruptions to around 3,000 flights that left more than 340,000 passengers stranded, reported BBC.

The Claim

NDTV Profit reported the video on its YouTube channel, stating, "Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau volcano erupted violently. The volcano sits in the Sunda Strait, between Java and Sumatra. Ash and rock shot high into the sky."

The Times of India also used a screengrab from the video in its report on recent volcanic eruptions in Indonesia.

What We Found: Video Was Created Using AI

1. No credible source found for the video: We broke the video into keyframes and performed reverse image searches on the extracted frames to trace its origin. However, the searches did not lead us to any credible source that could confirm the video is authentic or that it shows a volcanic eruption at Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau volcano.

The Associated Press published visuals of the Anak Krakatau eruption captured by anglers on September 6, 2026.

2. Visual anomalies: When we checked the video and zoomed in on it, we noticed some major discrepancies. These include the sudden disappearance of a person wearing a grey T-shirt who can be seen filming the eruption before the pickup truck moves, as well as the disappearance of the head of a person wearing a black T-shirt while running during the intensified eruption.

3. AI detector tools flag manipulation: Taking a cue, we tested the video using multiple AI detection tools, including NVIDIA and Hive AI Detector. Both tools indicated that the visuals were synthetic and generated using artificial intelligence.