No, Maui fires not linked to energy weapons, AI, smart cities, weather modification | Fact check

Chris Mueller, USA TODAY
Updated ·8 min read
12

The claim: Maui fires are linked to 15-minute cities, artificial intelligence, energy weapons and weather modification

An Aug. 11 Instagram video (direct link, archive link) shows a man talking in front of footage of the burned remnants of buildings and vehicles in Maui, Hawaii.

"Who caused the fires in Hawaii?" reads the text in the video.

The narrator makes an array of claims about the nature and cause of the Maui fires:

  • That the wreckage isn't indicative of a fire, but rather that "it looks like something almost exploded or something went off," then referencing "direct energy weapons."

  • That the fires connect to a conference held in Maui in January about making it "an entire smart island" by "changing everything to electric, renewables, solar panels and pushing everybody into electric vehicles."

  • That the fires connect to a digital government summit planned for Hawaii in September about "utilizing AI to govern the island."

  • That "weather modification" by the government was the cause of the wildfires.

The post was liked more than 18,000 times in four days. Similar posts amassed thousands of shares.

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Our rating: False

The video is wrong on multiple fronts. There is no evidence linking the fires to directed energy weapons, 15-minute cities, artificial intelligence or weather modification. The cause of the fires has not yet been determined, but authorities say strong winds and dry conditions were likely factors.

Strong winds and dry vegetation helped fuel fires, not energy weapons

The claim: "This sure doesn't look like a fire to me. It looks like something almost exploded or something went off."

At least 110 people have died in wildfires that consumed parts of Maui, the second largest of the Hawaiian islands, since Aug. 7. The death toll is expected to climb as emergency workers continue to search for human remains among the debris in what has become the deadliest U.S. fires in more than a century.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green described the scale of the property damage caused by the fire in a video posted on social media. He said more than 2,700 structures were destroyed in Lahaina, the island's main tourist destination, and an estimated value of $5.6 billion "has gone away."

There is no evidence that directed energy weapons played any role in starting the fire, as the man in the video claims. Officials with the Hawaii Department of Defense and U.S. Forest Service told USA TODAY claims that a directed energy weapon caused the fire are baseless.

The cause of the fires has not yet been determined, but authorities have pointed to several factors that made them possible, including strong winds, dry vegetation and low humidity.

The combination of weather factors led to what the National Weather Service calls “red flag” conditions in which fires are likely to start and spread. Hurricane Dora, a Category 4 storm hundreds of miles south of the islands, didn't hit the islands directly, but it still brought gusting winds.

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USA TODAY also debunked a similar claim that an image shared hundreds of times on social media shows a beam from a directed energy weapon started the wildfires. The image, though, was taken May 22, 2018, and shows SpaceX launching a Falcon 9 rocket in California.

Many topics discussed at annual conference, including 'smart cities'

The claim: "What they don't talk about is in January how they had in Maui a smart city conference to turn Maui into an entire smart island, changing everything to electric, renewables, solar panels and pushing everybody into electric vehicles."

The man in the video misconstrues the purpose of the annual Hawaii International Conference for System Sciences, which has been held since 1968, most recently in January. The conference's website describes it as one of the "longest-standing working scientific conferences on information technology management," featuring panel discussions and presentations of peer-reviewed research.

There is no evidence the conference is intended to "turn Maui into an entire smart island" and "(push) everybody into electric vehicles," as the man in the video claims. While "smart and connected" cities is listed among topics covered in one category of research presented at the conference, the event's scope is far broader than that, with more than 1,400 research papers submitted across a variety of topics.

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The man in the video also mentions "15-minute cities," a concept that involves making a city's most important services accessible to all residents within a 15-minute walk or bike ride – and a frequent subject of misinformation. This concept has no connection to the fires.

USA TODAY has previously debunked other false claims about "15-minute cities," including that they are actually climate change lockdowns, that they will involve permanent lockdowns and that residents will be assigned jobs in the cities.

Agenda doesn't mention using AI to govern Hawaii

The claim: "What's also interesting is next month in September is Hawaii is hosting the digital government summit utilizing AI to govern the island."

The man in the video references the Hawaii Digital Government Summit, which is set for Sept. 25 in Honolulu, Hawaii's capital. Honolulu is on the island of Oahu, which is nearly 100 miles from Maui, where the worst of the wildfires occurred.

The event's website says it lasts a single day and "brings together technology-focused public-sector professionals with leading industry partners," and features a series of different speakers, including Green, the state's governor.

It also includes a note that reads, "Misleading social media posts have been circulating falsely asserting that the Hawaii Digital Government Summit, which is held in Honolulu each year, is aimed at transforming Maui into the first smart island. These claims are incorrect and do not align with the summit's annual focus."

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While AI was mentioned in the website's description of Jack Shaw, a featured speaker, that is the only place it appears on the agenda. There is no mention of "utilizing AI to govern the island," or "resetting something" using the fires, as the man in the video claims. The agenda was later updated to remove the AI mention amid misinformation on the topic.

The event isn't unique to Hawaii, either. There are similar events planned for later this year in several other states.

Experts agree humans can't create large-scale weather events

The claim: "If we see that the Department of Defense and other factions are responsible for modifying the weather, well then if we look at direct energy weapons, we can maybe see how this can all relate to this event."

The man in the video references the National Weather Modification Policy Act of 1976, which was signed into law in October of that year and directed the commerce secretary to "develop a national policy on weather modification."

It also led to the creation of a lengthy report by an independent advisory board that says, "Weather can be modified by man, but much more knowledge is needed to intervene in complex atmospheric processes with scientifically predictable results."

However, there is no evidence the fires in Maui are connected to weather modification. Multiple experts have previously told USA TODAY that it's not yet possible to manipulate large-scale weather events.

Some types of weather modification have existed for decades, such as cloud seeding. That process involves planes using flares to inject clouds with silver iodide, which condenses the existing moisture in clouds, causing it to fall as snow or rain.

Julie Gondzar, program manager for Wyoming's weather modification program, previously told USA TODAY that cloud seeding can only increase precipitation on a "microscale" in a localized area.

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“A lot of people think it’s manipulating the weather pattern," Gondzar said. "We are essentially just playing with cloud dynamics and cloud physics, on a super, super small scale.”

Charles Konrad, director of NOAA's Southeast Regional Climate Center, previously told USA TODAY no one has the ability to create large-scale weather events or storms, including hurricanes.

“Major weather events require incredible amounts of energy,” Konrad said. “There’s just no way that humans can just put stuff up in the atmosphere and cause these events to happen.”

USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hawaii fires not linked to AI, energy weapons or weather modification