A YouTube video showing Armed Forces of the Philippines chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. discussing a new US hypersonic weapon is a deepfake created with AI, according to Rappler's fact-check. The AFP has warned against fake channels using his likeness. The video has garnered over 66,000 views and features visual glitches indicating artificial generation.
On December 21, 2025, a new YouTube channel created on December 18, 2025, and named after General Romeo Brawner Jr., posted an 18-minute video. In it, a deepfake version of Brawner, dressed in camouflage uniform, explains the capabilities of the Dark Eagle, a US military Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon. The video's title claims Russian President Vladimir Putin was surprised by this weapon that could allegedly destroy Moscow in minutes, though no description provides context.
Detection tools confirm the video is AI-generated. Sensity’s deepfake tool rated it 79.3% confident as AI-created, while Hive Moderation gave it a 96.2% score for likely containing deepfake content. It features a sparkle icon in the lower right, typical of Google Gemini outputs. Additional signs include inconsistencies like a wobbling microphone that distorts or vanishes into the mouth, a 'dead eyes' appearance, overly rehearsed gestures, and unnatural looping actions.
On December 23, 2025, the AFP posted on Facebook to alert the public: “The AFP warns the public against a fake YouTube channel impersonating AFP Chief of Staff General Romeo S. Brawner Jr. through highly deceptive, AI-generated videos. These contents are unauthorized, digitally manipulated, and intended to mislead.” They urged reliance on official government channels for credible information.
This incident fits a broader pattern of AI-generated fakes that Rappler has previously debunked. A deepfake, per the Oxford Dictionary, is media digitally manipulated to convincingly replace one person's likeness with another's, often maliciously to depict actions they did not perform.
