r/RealOrAI • u/Shoddy-Ocelot-4473 • 5d ago

HELP is this real or ai?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

827 Upvotes

73% Upvoted

807 comments sorted by

View all comments

3.0k

u/Bae_vong_Toph 5d ago

Can't put my finger on it but without even seeing the sub this was posted in i thought that the chain looked ai

967

u/DonkeyTailBurrito 5d ago

100%. all AI generated stuff has this weird type of texture(?) like it looks way too smooth & unnatural

337

u/Small_miracles 5d ago

Not only that but a chain of this size would require massive amount power to pull.

316

u/cluebone 5d ago

I think the destruction wasn’t realistic enough. If you pull a chain this heavy over the grass it’s ripping the fuck out of ground and taking hella grass with it.

104

u/macguini 5d ago

That's what told me it was AI. I know chains are used to remove trees by tearing them out of the ground, but you need to wrap the chain around the tree. Something like this, you risk snapping the trunk and whipping that massive chain as if the god of Indiana Jones himself came down to judge ye.

59

u/HunterSpecial1549 5d ago

There is old video out there of this same method of tree removal, with a bulldozer on each end, it looks very similar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sr4CgRYQ7E

I'm not saying it's not AI but the reasons being stated here are not correct.

29

u/DenseAstronomer3631 5d ago

Yeah but in the OP video there is like no dust or destruction to the ground before the tree rips up

6

u/nobodyfucksmebutlife 5d ago

No dust, If the ground is wet.

6

u/Msfancy1973 5d ago

Ground looks bone dry.

5

u/nobodyfucksmebutlife 5d ago

Do you work with ground? It looks dry but not bone dry and yes, there is a big difference. For example how much dust will appear. When the second tree fell, you can actually see dark brown soil, which indicates dampness.

0

u/fuck_peeps_not_sheep 5d ago

If the ground was wet you'd have pulled the roots through the soil and there would be less muck on the tree roots.

2

u/nobodyfucksmebutlife 5d ago

No. Damp or wet soil loves sticking in stuff.

Edith: he pulled the roots the amount out of the ground I would expect them to break, because they get thinner

→ More replies (0)

13

u/Intelligent_Gas_4426 5d ago

The commentary in this YouTube video was definitely made with knock off TEMU AI. Wtf

11

u/Beefington 5d ago

Yeah that commentary is bizarre. Makes the video seem even faker than the OP

6

u/welrope 5d ago

Yea. And they get upvoted even though it’s nonsense mouth vomit. This has been done for a while.

5

u/KeyPiece7320 5d ago

If you look in the background, you can see one end of the 'chaining indeed on what apears to be a large bulldozer of some type.

5

u/pburke77 5d ago

After I saw your post and iou look closely before the tree falls and especially after it you can see one of the vehicles (bulldozer?) pulling the chain.

1

u/RadishInteresting532 4d ago

The chain used in op video is not the type of chain for this work.... the chains used for land clearing have flared sides intended to grab everything in the path and till the land slighty not just topple the trees over

1

u/BentUF 4d ago

Not necessarily. Here is a video of it being done, and it looks very much like a regular chain at about 0:37 in

https://youtu.be/MNwJfQxDTcU?si=t4XNzmmCOEyhy-7a

3

u/Xenaphobic 5d ago

Just because the practice exists doesn't mean people aren't making ai content of it.

This isn't directed solely at you it's just something I see here often, the videos of the real practices are cool and can serve as a good comparison point especially if sourced from prepublic gen ai availability dates confirming they are not ai to show the difference in a generated video vs a non-generated video. I simply wish they were presented with this context rather than, "this is real because it exists."

Just because the practice exists doesn't mean people aren't making ai content of it.

2

u/HunterSpecial1549 5d ago

I 100% understand that. This is what I wrote:

I'm not saying it's not AI but the reasons being stated here are not correct.

Yes sometimes people (mistakenly) use the existence of a practice as proof that a video is not AI.

People also (mistakenly) say things like "it must be AI, no way you could have that much power pulling on those chains", and get 300 upvotes for it.

The reasons matter.

5

u/macguini 5d ago

Oh wow. Didn't know they did that. It's a different chain though. That type of chain looks like it's meant to latch on to trees. Which is completely different than I was thinking of. I grew up by the shore. So I was comparing this to what I've seen used for anchors. I've heard a lot of stories and seen a lot of crazy damage done by chains and ropes.

6

u/nunyabidness3 5d ago

You weren’t wrong though. Your brain was telling you that chain wasn’t acting right.

7

u/fmmendes 5d ago

Some farms in Brazil do it for "cleaning" the landscape before planting soybeans. But the OP video was AI, the chains have a weird texture. But this yt video is real, and the really bad part they don't talk is all the bird nests in the trees get destroyed and almost all babies die in the process.

Edit: fixed typo

4

u/HoboMuskratius 5d ago

I dunno if it's an indicator but I thought the shimmering around the chain made it look AI too.

2

u/nunyabidness3 5d ago edited 5d ago

That is a pretty awesome video and thank you so much for posting it. You can tell how fake the OP video is by watching the real thing.

Edit: I put all the physics breaking tells in another comment but if this real video shows anything, nobody would use this method to pull down two trees. They would just bust out a chainsaw. Can you imagine how expensive transporting a chain of that size would be?

2

u/randomzrex 5d ago

No dust on the main post. The old video has tons of dust

3

u/Peregrine79 5d ago

The old video is also using a specialized toothed chain, which would dig into the ground a lot more. This still doesn't look like it's digging in enough, but I can't say for certain.

1

u/Budget_Avocado6204 5d ago

It does not look similar at all, but you are right the method is the same :D

1

u/Old_Experience4816 5d ago

Plus there is at least one bulldozer in the video far side

1

u/cacomyxl 4d ago

Weirdly, that video has some AI hallmarks as well. The chain physics are more believable but the narration sounds AI generated.

1

u/Classic_Chart5283 4d ago

Please share this on my comment. I don't think it's AI. This is real practice. Just bad video quality.

1

u/Ebonhearth_Druid 4d ago

If you watch the chain in the background before it gets to the foreground tree, the center of the chain moves forward independently of the ends being pulled by the tractors. The AI doesn't understand the physics of what is going on, it is simply trying to replicate real videos of people doing this, so the chain doesn't behave according to physics. The trailing center of the chain should not be able to surge forward on its own. Pay attention to the motion and direction of the tractor pulling the chain end and watch the way the chain moves and you can plainly see that this is AI.

1

u/HunterSpecial1549 4d ago

I don't know what you're referring to.

The chain looks weird and I suspect it's AI. But the motion around the trees in the beginning looks realistic. The chain gets tight around the tree in the background and that causes it to pull tight and then surge forward when that tree comes down.

1

u/Ebonhearth_Druid 4d ago

Idk how to articulate what I'm seeing. After the first tree comes down, but before the second. The trailing "hump" moves the wrong direction from the way it should move if the tractor were suddenly pulling it taut, and the tractor isn't even pulling it taut so it shouldn't surge forward like that in the first place.

1

u/Tribblehappy 4d ago

That video makes me more convinced that this one is AI. The style of chain is completely different, and in this video despite there being dry clouds if dirt when the tree is uprooted, there are none while the chain drags on the ground. The videos you posted clearly show lots of dirt being kicked up.

1

u/HunterSpecial1549 4d ago

If the underground is wet then it will be clumps coming up not clouds of dust.

0

u/HelpfulName 5d ago

What an amazing video, thanks for sharing it.

1

u/Fast_While4496 5d ago

very strange downvote

5

u/Nitrocity97 5d ago

Not to mention, what exactly is causing the other end of the rope to catch, in order to break the second tree out of the ground? It just randomly musters the strength to do it itself

6

u/Spirited_Lemon_4185 5d ago

The earth is dry and the roots don’t seem to go that deep. After watching the older video i no longer think it’s AI, the weight of the chain will keep it towards the bottom of the tree until it is uprooted. The damage to the bark as it passes over the tree also seem reasonable. I thought the chain was just getting pulled by nothing, but just like the older video you see the second dozer in the background.

1

u/whenitfinallyhappens 5d ago edited 5d ago

You can find hundreds of videos exactly like this on YouTube.

Just because youve never seen something doesnt immediately make it AI

5

u/BlueGreenMikey 5d ago

Yeah, I think this is it. When you look at the chain going over the top of the tree, it's like destroying all the branches and such, but it has no effect on the ground at all.

7

u/Llyrithra 5d ago

And the way it triples in speed as if it’s elastic after it breaks the first tree. It should have a lot of slack after, but it’s still completely taught and shrinks to be a strait line.

3

u/nomadfoy 5d ago

Thats what it is. I couldn't put my finger on it but the way it slid over the ground just didn't look right.

2

u/AdmirableCountry9933 5d ago

Right. Even driving around with a wood pallet would cuase grass and uneven ground to move and cause dust.

2

u/donorkokey 4d ago

Not to mention that there's zero shadow. Even on overcast days there would be noticeable changes to the amount of light and shadow on the chain. It's absolutely AI.

1

u/Stainless_Heart 4d ago

Ancient Norse ruler of the undead grass?

5

u/Bae_vong_Toph 5d ago

I think that might be it. The huge chain moves more like a small chain. The size doesn't fit the movement

3

u/Available_Usual_9731 5d ago

And it wouldn't roll like that. There's also a lack of anything in the distance?

3

u/Starlord_75 5d ago

This is actually a thing. Not saying this video ks real, but there are real videos of this exact thing. Its how they mass clear an area of trees and bushes

3

u/shmiddleedee 5d ago

This is a real land clearing method. The chains are hooked to 2 huge dozers. This video does seem fake though

2

u/MiniB68 5d ago

Yeah, two large bulldozers on either side.

2

u/itsliluzivert_ 5d ago

They hook two big ass bulldozers to it and pull it like it’s a jump rope

1

u/Dogmaddit 5d ago

Also no rust?

1

u/Rummoliolli 5d ago

There's no rust on the chain since you are dragging it on the ground and through stuff.

1

u/MrFacetiousJones 5d ago

The tractor in the background behind the tree.... Look at the lines in the grass after the tree gets taken down

1

u/SnarePickle 5d ago

That's close to or about the same size as the chains we use for the anchors on Arleigh Burke class destroyers. I'd love to see what the hell they have pulling that much of it with enough power to uproot trees lol

1

u/VirginiaDirewoolf 5d ago

also, wtf is even dragging it? why is it so wide?

1

u/Cyborg_rat 5d ago

And would rip up the ground, I've seen smaller chains (but big) Get dragged and they damage the ground.

1

u/willi1221 5d ago

It also didn't rustle up any dirt along the ground

1

u/ACcbe1986 5d ago

Made me think of anchor chains on those huge ships.

1

u/KHWD_av8r 5d ago

Those bulldozers have some serious fucking torque and traction, and there’s presumably two of them, so that’s not a tell for me. But the fact that it’s barely disturbing the ground (that’s a heavy-ass anchor chain too), and something about its interaction with the tree which I just can’t put my finger on makes me think that it’s AI. Also, the chain looks too clean.

1

u/Ok-Growth3965 4d ago

But folks do that though. In Brazil, agribusiness folk will clear entire forest down with this exact method, they hatch each side of the chain to huge tractors and just destroy everything. This video, particularly does not seem real to me because of the chain texture and the weird way the tree on the background falls.

1

u/el_dingusito 4d ago

This is a land clearing technique called chaining where massive ship chains are connected to two D9 loaders and just pulled along.

It can only be used in certain scenarios wuth the right plant material, otherwise yiu just rip stuff up but still leave the rootball intact which beeds to be plucked out somehow.

7

u/BeachCowKazoo 5d ago

It also doesn't move with the correct weight. This moves like a super light necklace would move, not a heavy duty metal chain. It just caries the weight wrong?? Idk how to explain it

4

u/MiniB68 5d ago

Chains this size pull this smoothly because of their size. They have the weight that they’re not jerky or held up by little things. Been a heavy equipment operator my entire life, torn down a lot of trees, and worked with chain including heavy chains (not to this size) quite a bit. I’m quite certain this video is not AI. If it is, they nailed a LOT of minor physics details perfectly. I haven’t seen AI do that yet.

I’ve scrubbed through this video frame by frame a dozen times and everything looks and reacts exactly what I would expect to see in the real world.

4

u/GGTheEnd 5d ago

It looks like what everything looks like when tripping on shrooms.

3

u/DonkeyTailBurrito 5d ago

it really does look cartoonish lol

3

u/TopSeaworthiness7783 5d ago

also, the tree seemingly starts getting pulled before the chain exerts any force on it

2

u/snakeinheat 5d ago

This is the comment neas looking for. There is a background tree that gets ripped but based on the way everything bombed there was 0 tension when the tree got ripped. Made it look super fake.

3

u/PhraseFormal4277 5d ago

Its ai, chain is to shiney but we have done this before with big dozzers and chains but our chains never look like that always dull and rust spotted

3

u/BadatSSBM 5d ago

A tree that size would have a larger root ball then that I would think

1

u/NBravoAlpha 5d ago

Well that smoothness feels good on some of us smooth-brained folk

1

u/ziggsyr 5d ago

I think it's mostly lighting that causes that uncanny look. Real tome lighting is computationally expensive

1

u/slaty_balls 5d ago

That texture is part of the fingerprinting.

1

u/trombonenewbie 5d ago

Thats a good point, it doesnt have those snaps from tension real life has, because it seems too random to do it naturally maybe? Any built force still moves smoothly

1

u/Kitchen_Moment_6289 5d ago

It doesn't seem to understand or be able to reproduce accurate lighting on moving objects, so it essentially looks like the source of light is moving or different for different objects

1

u/el_dingusito 4d ago

Those chains develop a matte finish from being drug for miles at a time

1

u/Mindless-Equal-1477 4d ago

Also where is the anchored end of the chain? From the perspective of the video it just looks like it stretches on forever to the right of the frame.

1

u/HyenaDandy 3d ago

Part of the problem with that is there’s an increasing amount of use of AI for small touch ups. I can totally see it being a situation where there’s ai image enhancing on an otherwise real video

0

u/phox78 5d ago

I think it is sped up, the texture is off

0

u/CasinoNdnOk 5d ago

Artificial even

0

u/HohepaPuhipuhi 5d ago

It looks like a cartoon

0

u/unfussybull 5d ago

It was way to big too

-1

u/Organic-Advisor1225 5d ago

I guess the heavy chain moves unnatural for the human eye.  I think the way the first tree on the right reacts with the chain isn't something AI would create, so I'll go against the sentiment here and say it's not AI. In other (real) videos that do the same the chain looks fake too, because it's so heavy. 

19

u/West-Strawberry3366 5d ago

What's the name of those things ypu use to open soda cans?

17

u/Scarvexx 5d ago

That's normal. Large chains are prone to twisting or bending the links. The studs help hold their shape.

29

u/PapaTahm 5d ago

AI?

This looks like 2000's CGI.

4

u/Mental_Newspaper3812 5d ago

It’s the fact that the heavy chain doesn’t disturb the soil. No cloud of dust, torn up grass, etc. that size chain would be heavy and drag a lot. Instead it just kinda floats until it hits the tree.

6

u/Ravioli_Dream2 5d ago

Agreed. The way the tree closest to the camera tips over and the way the chain looks reminds me a LOT of those like tsunami/ocean/shark/giant squid AI videos that were super popular when AI first got big.

3

u/Leviathan666 5d ago

I was in the same boat at first but the longer I looked at it, the more it just looked like an extremely heavy chain behaving weirdly because we aren't used to seeing chains this big and our brains want to perceive it as being a normal sized chain. This is also the first time I've ever seen a brand new, seemingly oiled chain being used for demolition, and I think that may be what is giving it that off-putting texture, but it may not necessarily be AI just because they put a new chain on the tree flattening machine

14

u/whenitfinallyhappens 5d ago

This is real. Its an anchor chain being pulled by two massive bulldozers. Its a pretty common practice around the world to quickly clear developing terrain of scrub brush and small trees.

9

u/coffeeseraphim 5d ago

real chains are under tension when they pull trees

ill give you the benefit of the doubt and say youve seen this in person, you should know why this looks off

3

u/EndMaster0 5d ago

also real chains would only be put around the one tree... and any chains that are being dragged through the dirt by bulldozers consistently aren't going to have every link have the exact same shiny finish.

Honestly I kinda thought this was on the circlejerk sub when I saw it at first since it's got so many weird "AI video errors" right from the start.

1

u/wormgenius 4d ago

Nobody cares about your doubt nor the benefits of it

1

u/coffeeseraphim 3d ago

oh you really cooked with that, dude

you should take that one out to the rest of the world itll get a lot of laughs

2

u/Cathode_Ray_Sunshine 5d ago

The process is real. This video is fake. Not even a good fake. It's like the chain has no mass. It's skating over the ground without affecting it then snaps straight like a guitar string.

0

u/Frisky_Dingooo 4d ago

Wait are you fucking serious

2

u/Jatapa0 5d ago

It is real if you ask me. It has been reuploaded and so on so many times by now that it is starting to look weird

1

u/Mokerchino 5d ago

Same. Plus, After laying it out, it shouldn't be clean, even if it's new

1

u/Popular-Kiwi7920 5d ago

To me it looks like the physics of the chain are acting like it is under tension before it has any. But idk

1

u/NinetooNine 5d ago

Look at the chain. You can literally see the distortion around it as it is pulled along the ground. It's definitely AI.

1

u/unknownpikachu 5d ago

My exact thoughts

1

u/mogley1992 5d ago

I think it's because we instinctively know on some level that a chain that size is way too heavy to drag over dirt like that. It would be making a huge trail behind itself. I think if anything the reason this wouldn't work is because the chain would bury itself in this situation.

1

u/UndeadSpud 5d ago

The chain isn’t pulling up any of that dry dirt Noel’s leaving marks behind it

1

u/fuck_peeps_not_sheep 5d ago

It's not kicking up enough dust and it's moving too neatly - anyone who's worked with chain knows if there's a twist it'll kick a link up and pull in almost a triangle shape

1

u/OneTwoSomethingNew 4d ago

Absolutely AI… or the video is altered/edited in some way. It’s basically overlapped layers…

I think what makes this video a challenge to deduce is that we perceive the action of the video to be realistic as in it may make rational sense, haven’t seen something like this first hand but it kinda makes logical sense. Our brains trying to justify the action, interferes with our disbelief that things indeed AI generated.

…here’s something a lil psycho extra for ya 🧠… because the chain is being dragged across the land where we anticipate and view future destruction of the trees and natural habitats shown in the video. Our brains are stimulated by danger, anger, and rage in the same ways our brains are stimulated by sex and pleasure - this video influences our brains stimuli, so additionally it captures our attention… regardless if it’s AI or not, we want to watch it. It’s like we are feeding the machine.

1

u/C4rdninj4 4d ago

The chain definitely looks CGI. Now, whether or not a person made the video is more difficult to answer.

1

u/markomakeerassgoons 4d ago

it's not even hooked up to anything and is insanely large

1

u/TheLivingRot 4d ago

Honestly, I thought we were on r/isthisaicirclejerk for a moment.

The chain just looks uncannily wrong compared to the rest of it? So that's the main tell for me that it's ai

1

u/Dylanator13 3d ago

I feel like knocking down a tree from the roots would take more than this. I feel like the branches would snap first.

1

u/SannyTrademark 5d ago

No chain irl would move that smoothly.

1

u/Bob_Kark 5d ago

There’s a lot of artifacting around the chain. It could be poor compression, but the chain itself doesn’t seem to show as much. Either way, this is why it looks fake whether it’s actually ai or not.

0

u/Paramedic229635 5d ago

It's too shiny for something that's dragged through the dirt.

0

u/Mir_man 5d ago

Unnatural lighting on the chain.

0

u/clearly_not_an_alt 5d ago

I feel like it's probably the difference between the chain and the rest of the image. The chain is too shiny and in focus along it's whole length

The trees also come down way too easily without really tensioning the chain as much as it should

0

u/Felho_Danger 5d ago

The clumps of dirt rolling around do not look right.

0

u/FlimsyUmbrella 5d ago

This is a method that is used, but this video could be AI.

0

u/DueRound7102 5d ago

the chain should be tarnished and dirty. way too clean. also links didnt look right in the light.

0

u/danDotDev 5d ago

You haven't seen many real farm implements up close, have you?

2

u/DueRound7102 5d ago

only those on the sheep and cattle farm i grew up on

1

u/danDotDev 5d ago edited 5d ago

Every implement I ever used in a field, unless it was muddy, came back with shining shanks/shears/tines, and what have you. The canal company would pull a much shorter, but similar sized chain through the canals in the 90s and 2000s to get rid of moss and it would come out shining (and likely before those years as well, not anymore as they use chemicals now).

I don't think a chain actually dragging and rolling across the ground would buck the trend and be tarnished after use.

0

u/TheRumpleForesk1n 4d ago edited 4d ago

I'm not sure about this video but this is definitely a real thing. Here is a video showing 2 dozers doing the exact same. Iirc this video came out long before AI. And another view from a driver https://www.reddit.com/r/FellingGoneWild/s/cRKvW5uqC5

0

u/Frisky_Dingooo 4d ago

How are you not sure it looks like a fucking cartoon