A video purportedly showing bees swarming a motorcycle while it is being refuelled with E85 fuel is fake and AI-generated.
BOOM found that the video contains the Gemini AI logo. A check using Google’s AI detection tool also identified a SynthID watermark, confirming that the video was AI-generated
On June 5, 2026, India officially launched E85 fuel, a blend containing 85% ethanol and 15% petrol, intending to help cut pollution and reduce the country's reliance on imported oil stated Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri. The Indian government has been facing a backlash from motorists after the nationwide rollout of fuel blended with 20% ethanol with fears that it may affect the performance of particularly older vehicles.
The Claim:
The video is being shared on X and Instagram with the claim that it shows a real incident of bees swarming a motorcycle’s fuel tank at a petrol pump.
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What We Found:
1) AI-detection tool results
We ran a reverse image search on the video showing bees swarming the motorcycle’s fuel tank and found a longer version posted on X. In this version, we spotted the Google Gemini AI watermark.
Taking a cue from this, we analysed the video using Google’s AI detection tool, SynthID, which identified visuals that have been generated or edited using Google AI. The tool detected a SynthID watermark in the video’s visuals, indicating that the content was AI-generated.
Additionally, we also ran the video through Hive Moderation which also detected that the visuals are AI-generated.
2) Visuals of ants swamping car's petrol tank
At the end of the video, the visuals of ants swamping a car's fuel tank was originally posted by an Instagram handle @mr_sikkim_boys_07, with the caption when translated reading, "E85 Ethanol petrol is coming. Everyone must share."
We also consulted with our partners at the Deepfakes Analysis Unit (DAU), who ran the video through AI-detection tools, which indicated that it is not created using AI.
BOOM could not independently verify the incident in the video. We also reached out to the handle and the article will be updated on receiving a response.
