A viral video showing an Amazon delivery robot driving into the sea in San Diego was generated by artificial intelligence, Amazon has confirmed. The video circulated online shortly after France authorized the certification of the first autonomous delivery vehicles on Friday, August 7.
A user sharing the footage on social media platform X claimed that San Diego had just witnessed the fall of an Amazon delivery robot. The user described the event as the most expensive dive in the world and joked that deliveries from the American retail giant were now available underwater. The clip accumulated more than five million views across social networks.
Several visual details in the footage contradict real delivery hardware. The video depicts a blue and black four-wheeled vehicle bearing the name Prime on its rear, referencing the Amazon Scout model. Amazon introduced Scout to United States streets in 2019 for short-distance last-mile deliveries, but the company withdrew the vehicles from service in January 2023. At the time of withdrawal, Amazon stated that the innovation did not meet customer expectations and said it planned to focus on a new model version.
Differences from real Amazon Scout tests
Amazon never deployed Scout robots in San Diego. The company began testing the delivery machines in August 2019 in Irvine, a suburb of Los Angeles located more than 100 kilometers from San Diego. Amazon later expanded tests to Atlanta, Georgia, and Franklin, Tennessee, but never operated them near California beaches. Additionally, the real tests were supervised by human operators rather than operating with complete autonomy, and packages were simply stored inside.
Amazon confirmed to news outlet TF1info that the circulating video was fake. Further visual evidence shows that while the video features a four-wheeled vehicle with Prime written on the back, the original Scout model was built on six wheels and displayed the brand name on its sides.
Origin of the artificial intelligence video
A reverse image search traced the earliest online posting of the clip to August 1 on Instagram. The video was uploaded by Evan Era, who describes himself on his account as a producer and magic creator known for publishing inauthentic AI-generated content.
Although Era did not explicitly state the clip was synthetic in his profile biography or post caption, the post carried an artificial intelligence label in Instagram settings. Instagram notes that this label indicates content where the creator used artificial intelligence for editing or to generate entirely new material.
