A disturbing video claiming to show an orca trainer named Jessica Radcliffe being attacked and killed by a killer whale has been making the rounds on TikTok and Facebook. But here’s the truth, it’s completely fake.
There is no Jessica Radcliffe, at least not in the world of orca training. Multiple sources have confirmed she doesn’t exist, and the so-called “attack footage” is actually AI-generated. If it were real, it would have made national headlines instantly.
The clip has all the telltale signs of computer-generated video. AI videos still struggle to pass the “uncanny valley” test, that strange feeling when something looks almost real but not quite. One big giveaway is the hands. AI still struggles to animate fingers naturally, and in this video, the movement is off.
The bigger question is why platforms like TikTok and Facebook allow this kind of content to spread. Both have been fighting misinformation for years, especially in the AI era where fake content can be made in minutes. They have tools to detect watermarks or signals of AI generation, but videos like this still slip through.
So why does something like the Jessica Radcliffe video go viral in the first place? Experts say it’s partly human nature. We are wired to pay more attention to negative or shocking events than positive ones. Psychologists call it a “negativity bias.” It’s the same reason we slow down to look at a car accident or click on a scary headline.
Coltan Scrivner, author of Morbidly Curious: A Scientist Explains Why We Can’t Look Away, says it comes from our survival instincts. Watching bad things happen, even in fiction, is a way of mentally preparing ourselves. It’s our brain running a “what would I do?” simulation.
And social media knows this. Shocking videos, even fake ones, get huge engagement. That means more clicks, more watch time, and more ad revenue. It’s not hard to see why the most outrageous content often sticks around.
The solution isn’t just on TikTok or Facebook. It’s also on us, if we want less fake and harmful content, we need to share and engage with videos that inform, inspire, or entertain without exploiting tragedy.
Until then, fake clips like the Jessica Radcliffe orca attack will keep swimming through our feeds.
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