Articles by Jordan Greene

Technology

Clip of Gorilla Cracking Glass Enclosure Goes Viral, but It's Actually AI and Fooling Millions

A viral clip of a gorilla slamming into the glass at the San Diego Zoo stunned social media. Now, another video claiming to show the same thing happening is circulating online, but it turns out this one is actually AI-generated. Posted on the TikTok account @funhub.ai, the video shows a gorilla running up to the glass enclosure and staring at the people on the other side. In the background, a woman says, “Look at him staring.” As the scene unfolds, the gorilla suddenly lifts its arm and smacks the glass, causing a crack. Onlookers scream and scatter in panic. “Back up, run!” one woman shouts. “Everyone run!” another man yells. The camera pans out to the hallway as visitors flee, while the gorilla’s roar echoes loudly in the background. "An angry gorilla in a zoo breaks the glass. People panic," the video is captioned. Since being posted, the video has racked up over 3.7 million views and thousands of comments, many of them debunking the clip and pointing out why it isn’t real. "There was an incident at the San Diego recently but this is not it. It was a crack only on the inside first layer ….this is AI generated and it [doesn’t] have to have the watermark," one user wrote. "I was thinking you could tell it’s AI cause when the glass broke it looked really thin. You gotta look for the little things," another commented. Another person added, "It's AI. Why would they [install] a glass vertical like that? My local zoo installed a glass about 85 degrees slant, bottom towards the building to reflect the energy away." The video was made in Sora, an AI video generator. Accounts, like @funhub.ai, share a variety of AI videos, sometimes coinciding the posts with other viral moments happening, creating the confusion. While the AI video may fool some viewers, the scenario isn’t entirely unrealistic. A similar incident, reported by ABC 10 News San Diego and KUSI, occurred on Saturday, Oct. 11, when a gorilla at the San Diego Zoo crashed into the glass wall of his enclosure, leaving a massive crack. In footage of the moment, captured by Emily Houglin and shared with PEOPLE, the gorilla charged at the glass wall of his habitat, which he shares with another gorilla. He struck the glass with a heavy thud, causing the group near the wall to gasp and yelp in fear. After the shrieks subsided, the clip shows the substantial crack Denny left behind. According to a statement from the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, obtained by PEOPLE, "On Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025, Denny, a 10-year-old western lowland gorilla, broke one layer of a three-layered tempered glass panel at the San Diego Zoo's gorilla forest habitat." Zoo officials confirmed that no one was injured during the incident, telling KUSI, "Both gorillas will be cared for behind the scenes until the panel has been replaced."