#FactCheck-Viral Video Falsely Attributes Remarks on US Leaders to CDS Anil Chauhan
Executive Summary
A video circulating on social media claims that Chief of Defence Staff Anil Chauhan described US leaders as “toothless rulers” and said that US President Donald Trump cannot disobey Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The clip is being widely shared as a recent statement. However, research by the CyberPeace Research Wing found the claim to be misleading. A review of the full interview revealed that Chauhan was speaking about the need for India to prepare for the next phase of ‘Operation Sindoor’. He emphasised that the armed forces must move beyond past operations and gear up for future challenges.
Claim
Social media users have shared the video claiming that CDS Anil Chauhan referred to US leaders as “toothless rulers” and stated that Donald Trump cannot act against the wishes of Benjamin Netanyahu.
- Link: https://x.com/InsiderWB/status/2046263000928330130
- Archive: https://archive.ph/j8CeL
Fact Check
A detailed keyword search using terms such as “CDS Anil Chauhan, Donald Trump, JD Vance, Pakistan” did not yield any credible reports or verified statements supporting the viral claim. A reverse image search of keyframes from the clip traced it back to a post shared by India Today on April 18, 2026, where the same visuals and setting were used.
https://x.com/IndiaToday/status/2045531069647327240
In the original interview, Chauhan focused on military preparedness and the future course of ‘Operation Sindoor’. He did not make any remarks about US leadership, Donald Trump, or Benjamin Netanyahu. The complete version of the interaction, also aired on Aaj Tak, was reviewed in full and similarly contains no such controversial or political statements.
Conclusion
The viral claim is misleading. The video has been edited or taken out of context to falsely attribute remarks to CDS Anil Chauhan that he never made. In reality, his statements were limited to India’s military preparedness and did not include any comments on US or Israeli leadership.
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Introduction
Generative AI models are significant consumers of computational resources and energy required for training and running models. While AI is being hailed as a game-changer, however underneath the shiny exterior, cracks are present which significantly raises concerns for its environmental impact. The development, maintenance, and disposal of AI technology all come with a large carbon footprint. The energy consumption of AI models, particularly large-scale models or image generation systems, these models rely on data centers powered by electricity, often from non-renewable sources, which exacerbates environmental concerns and contributes to substantial carbon emissions.
As AI adoption grows, improving energy efficiency becomes essential. Optimising algorithms, reducing model complexity, and using more efficient hardware can lower the energy footprint of AI systems. Additionally, transitioning to renewable energy sources for data centers can help mitigate their environmental impact. There is a growing need for sustainable AI development, where environmental considerations are integral to model design and deployment.
A breakdown of how generative AI contributes to environmental risks and the pressing need for energy efficiency:
- Gen AI during the training phase has high power consumption, when vast amounts of computational power which is often utilising extensive GPU clusters for weeks or at times even months, consumes a substantial amount of electricity. Post this phase, the inference phase where the deployment of these models takes place for real-time inference, can be energy-extensive especially when we take into account the millions of users of Gen AI.
- The main source of energy used for training and deploying AI models often comes from non-renewable sources which then contribute to the carbon footprint. The data centers where the computations for Gen AI take place are a significant source of carbon emissions if they rely on the use of fossil fuels for their energy needs for the training and deployment of the models. According to a study by MIT, training an AI can produce emissions that are equivalent to around 300 round-trip flights between New York and San Francisco. According to a report by Goldman Sachs, Data Companies will use 8% of US power by 2030, compared to 3% in 2022 as their energy demand grows by 160%.
- The production and disposal of hardware (GPUs, servers) necessary for AI contribute to environmental degradation. Mining for raw materials and disposing of electronic waste (e-waste) are additional environmental concerns. E-waste contains hazardous chemicals, including lead, mercury, and cadmium, that can contaminate soil and water supplies and endanger both human health and the environment.
Efforts by the Industry to reduce the environmental risk posed by Gen AI
There are a few examples of how companies are making efforts to reduce their carbon footprint, reduce energy consumption and overall be more environmentally friendly in the long run. Some of the efforts are as under:
- Google's TPUs in particular the Google Tensor are designed specifically for machine learning tasks and offer a higher performance-per-watt ratio compared to traditional GPUs, leading to more efficient AI computations during the shorter periods requiring peak consumption.
- Researchers at Microsoft, for instance, have developed a so-called “1 bit” architecture that can make LLMs 10 times more energy efficient than the current leading system. This system simplifies the models’ calculations by reducing the values to 0 or 1, slashing power consumption but without sacrificing its performance.
- OpenAI has been working on optimizing the efficiency of its models and exploring ways to reduce the environmental impact of AI and using renewable energy as much as possible including the research into more efficient training methods and model architectures.
Policy Recommendations
We advocate for the sustainable product development process and press the need for Energy Efficiency in AI Models to counter the environmental impact that they have. These improvements would not only be better for the environment but also contribute to the greater and sustainable development of Gen AI. Some suggestions are as follows:
- AI needs to adopt a Climate justice framework which has been informed by a diverse context and perspectives while working in tandem with the UN’s (Sustainable Development Goals) SDGs.
- Working and developing more efficient algorithms that would require less computational power for both training and inference can reduce energy consumption. Designing more energy-efficient hardware, such as specialized AI accelerators and next-generation GPUs, can help mitigate the environmental impact.
- Transitioning to renewable energy sources (solar, wind, hydro) can significantly reduce the carbon footprint associated with AI. The World Economic Forum (WEF) projects that by 2050, the total amount of e-waste generated will have surpassed 120 million metric tonnes.
- Employing techniques like model compression, which reduces the size of AI models without sacrificing performance, can lead to less energy-intensive computations. Optimized models are faster and require less hardware, thus consuming less energy.
- Implementing scattered learning approaches, where models are trained across decentralized devices rather than centralized data centers, can lead to a better distribution of energy load evenly and reduce the overall environmental impact.
- Enhancing the energy efficiency of data centers through better cooling systems, improved energy management practices, and the use of AI for optimizing data center operations can contribute to reduced energy consumption.
Final Words
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are crucial for the AI industry just as other industries as they guide responsible innovation. Aligning AI development with the SDGs will ensure ethical practices, promoting sustainability, equity, and inclusivity. This alignment fosters global trust in AI technologies, encourages investment, and drives solutions to pressing global challenges, such as poverty, education, and climate change, ultimately creating a positive impact on society and the environment. The current state of AI is that it is essentially utilizing enormous power and producing a product not efficiently utilizing the power it gets. AI and its derivatives are stressing the environment in such a manner which if it continues will affect the clean water resources and other non-renewable power generation sources which contributed to the huge carbon footprint of the AI industry as a whole.
References
- https://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/artificial-intelligence/ais-hunger-for-power-can-be-tamed/111302991
- https://earth.org/the-green-dilemma-can-ai-fulfil-its-potential-without-harming-the-environment/
- https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/06/06/239031/training-a-single-ai-model-can-emit-as-much-carbon-as-five-cars-in-their-lifetimes/
- https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ais-climate-impact-goes-beyond-its-emissions/
- https://insights.grcglobalgroup.com/the-environmental-impact-of-ai/
Executive Summary
A video is being widely shared on social media with the claim that a terrorist attack took place at the ISKCON Temple in Patna. The posts claim that terrorists opened indiscriminate fire at security personnel deployed at the main gate, carried out bomb blasts, and took two priests hostage. CyberPeace Research Wing’s research found that the claim of a terrorist attack on the ISKCON Temple in Patna is false. The viral video is not from an actual attack but from a security mock drill conducted at the temple.
Claim
A Facebook post shared a video claiming: "Three suspected terrorists entered the ISKCON Temple! Security guards were shot at the gate. Three suspected terrorists carrying modern weapons and hand grenades suddenly entered the Patna ISKCON Temple in the morning and killed the security personnel deployed at the gate. They then carried out a bomb blast, creating panic inside the temple campus."
The Facebook post archive can be accessed here. Similar posts can be found here and here.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/2501959103601059
Factcheck
To verify the claim, we extracted keyframes from the viral video and conducted a reverse image search. During the search, we found reports from several credible media organisations clarifying that the video was not related to any real terrorist attack but was from a mock drill conducted to assess the preparedness of security forces. According to a Dainik Bhaskar report published on July 29, a security mock drill was conducted at the ISKCON Temple in Patna. During the exercise, a simulated emergency situation was created in which police personnel were assigned the role of suspected terrorists and were made to enter the temple premises. The drill involved personnel from Kotwali, Jakkanpur and Buddha Colony police stations, along with magistrates and around 50 police personnel who reached the spot and took charge of the situation. An ATS team was also immediately called during the exercise.
The report also quoted Patna ASP (Law and Order) Krishna Murari Prasad, who clarified that the exercise was organised to strengthen the temple’s security arrangements.
A Navbharat Times report published on July 29 also stated that, as part of the planned mock drill, three Bihar Police personnel carrying advanced weapons and hand grenades were sent inside the ISKCON Temple premises. Security agencies responded quickly, cordoned off the area, and the ATS team took control of the personnel and mock explosives, successfully completing the exercise.
During our research , we also found a post dated July 29, 2026, on the official Facebook page of the Home Department, Government of Bihar, regarding the mock drill.
The post stated that the Bihar ATS successfully conducted a security mock drill at the ISKCON Temple premises in Patna. The objective of the exercise was to test coordination between security agencies and stakeholders, quick response capabilities, and the effective implementation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) during a possible terrorist attack or emergency situation. The post further mentioned that the drill included a rapid response to suspicious activity, area sanitisation, safe evacuation of devotees, search for suspects, and other necessary security measures.
https://www.facebook.com/HomeDeptBihar/posts/1492697179568423?ref=embed_post
Conclusion
The evidence gathered during the research confirms that the viral claim is false. The video being shared with the claim of a terrorist attack on Patna’s ISKCON Temple actually shows a security mock drill conducted by the authorities to assess emergency preparedness.
Executive Summary
A video is being shared on social media in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi can be heard saying that “a complete lockdown will be imposed from midnight to save the country.” Research by the CyberPeace found the viral claim to be misleading. Our probe revealed that the video is from March 2020, when PM Modi had announced a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Claim:
An Instagram user shared the viral video on March 25, 2026. The link and archive link of the post are given below.
Fact Check:
To verify the claim, we conducted a keyword search on Google. However, we did not find any credible media reports confirming that such a lockdown announcement had been made recently. We then extracted keyframes from the viral video and performed a reverse image search using Google Lens. During this process, we found the same video on a YouTube channel, where it had been uploaded on March 24, 2020.
The viral portion of the clip appears around the 40-second mark in the original video.
Conclusion:
Our research found that the viral video is not recent. It dates back to March 24, 2020, when PM Modi announced a nationwide lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. The clip is being shared with a misleading claim.
