Fact-Check | AI-generated scenes ‘from France’s 2025 Louvre heist’ circulate in Hong Kong

With the rise of social media and generative AI, how much of what we see online is true? In this new series, SCMP Fact-Check, the Post investigates claims circulating online and debunks viral misinformation impacting the daily lives of Hongkongers.

A daring daytime heist of jewels from the Louvre museum in Paris on October 19 made international headlines.

During the heist, the thieves parked a truck with an extendable ladder under the museum’s Apollo Gallery, and used cutting equipment to get through a window and display cases to steal the jewellery.

“At around 9.30am, four masked men ... broke into the building from the balcony and took away the jewellery on display,” a voice said in Mandarin at the 41-second mark of the video, as two separate clips of masked people breaking glass cases are shown.

However, a digital forensics expert and the Post’s own checks show they are not genuine, and likely generated by AI.