Experts Debunk Putin’s Orca-and-Polar-Bear Metaphor as AI-Generated Content

Putin’s Arctic wildlife metaphor for the invasion of Ukraine appears to come from AI slop, a zoologist says — orcas attacking polar bears is a staple of fake clips flooding social media

On August 29, at a meeting with teachers, Russian President Vladimir Putin came up with a new metaphor that he believes explains why Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Killer whales, he said, “eat bears like minnows,” attacking them in packs. Children should be taught this in school, according to the Russian president, so they understand “why we’re carrying out a special military operation” — the Kremlin’s term for the war. Hardly anyone could tell what exactly Putin meant, b...