A new study warns that fabricated AI wildlife videos are undermining conservation and corrupting scientific data.
Researchers at the University of Cordoba found that generative AI creates convincing videos of animals behaving in ways that are factually incorrect, such as depicting a "true mother love" in bird species where males also share parenting duties.
These videos can shape public perception, potentially giving false security around wild animals and increasing demand for exotic pets.
The content also skews toward mammals, risking imbalances in conservation funding.
Separately, researchers writing in Nature Ecology and Evolution warn that AI-edited photos submitted to citizen-science platforms like iNaturalist can corrupt data used for ecological research.
One case involved a common epaulet oriole photo that was "rebuilt" by AI to resemble a red-winged blackbird, leading to a false report of the North American species in Brazil.
Scientists say these errors, often made for cosmetic improvement, can lead to flawed conclusions about species distribution and behavior.