Video of toddler crying over US service member killed in Iran is AI-generated

At least 13 American service members have died so far in the U.S.-Israel war with Iran. Some online accounts are using the moment to share artificial intelligence-generated clickbait. 

One viral video showed a toddler-aged boy crying "Daddy" as he approached a flag-draped coffin. A woman follows and tries to console him, saying "I’m right here, sweetheart." 

A Facebook page shared it March 15 with the caption, "A Hero’s Final Farewell: Heartbreaking moment a son says goodbye to his father lost in the Iran conflict." 

The video had 1.1 million views as of March 16.

We saw the same video on X, TikTok, Instagram, and Threads. But online detection tools and AI experts said the video is very likely AI-generated. Several of the accounts sharing the video post other AI-generated content or acknowledge their content is not real.  

(Screenshot of Facebook video)

This particular video is one of several similar videos circulating online. They each depict a near-identical scene, a mother and child crying over a casket. In different versions, the mother and child’s ethnicities vary, as do their clothing and dialogue. Many captions reference the Iran war. 

We tested several videos using Hive Moderation’s AI detection tool, which said they all were over 95% likely to be generated using AI. 

We sent the video with 1.1 million views to several AI-detection experts for analysis. 

"At exactly 10-seconds in length, this is typical of AI-generated videos that max out at 10- to 15-seconds in length," said Hany Farid, a professor and digital forensics expert at the University of Berkeley, California. Farid also flagged some visual anomalies, such as the child’s hand disappearing into the flag and casket. 

Experts at Northwestern University’s Security and AI Lab also analyzed the video and said it was "likely generated via artificial intelligence." Analysts pointed out several more visual cues, like the blurry faces of the soldiers in the background and moments of malformed hands and faces. 

Hafiz Malik, a University of Michigan computer engineering professor, said one motive for sharing these videos may be to spread inaccurate information, but another might be financial. "People are emotionally very charged, so more clicks, more money," he said. The success of one video can motivate copycats.

Another media literacy trick that can help and doesn’t require a computer science degree: Examine the source pushing the video. 

One of the Facebook pages that posted the video, Critter PD, says in its bio that it posts "fictional content for a real cause." 

Another Facebook page, Female Forces USA, has posted numerous clips of children crying over U.S. service members’s caskets in recent weeks. Most appear to be AI-generated — you can tell by the American flags that are often skewed, with stars in the middle or stripes in the wrong spot. 

So far, the U.S. military has returned the remains of seven of the 13 service members who died. 

News reports say that at least three of the seven service members whose remains have been returned left behind children, but none are toddlers as the video depicts. 

Our ruling

A social media video purports to show a young boy crying over a flag-draped casket of a service member killed in the ongoing Iran war. But the video is not authentic.

Experts and online detection tools said they, and other similar videos, are AI generated.

Based on news reports, none of the seven service members whose remains have been returned had a toddler-aged child. 

We rate this claim False.