TIL a deepfake video of a mayor went viral last month and nobody checked

I spent last Thursday tracking down a video of our mayor that everyone was sharing in the local Facebook group. It turned out to be an AI-generated fake where he supposedly said he was quitting office, but the real mayor posted later that day saying he never made that statement. Has anyone else dealt with a local deepfake that almost got shared around your town?

3 comments

3 Comments

blairtaylor2mo ago

Hmm, I actually see it a little different. "Nobody checked" makes it sound like people are just lazy, but honestly most folks don't have the tools or know-how to spot a deepfake. It's not like we all have forensic software sitting around.

avery_lopez2mo ago

Oh man, my grandma once tried to zoom in on a photo of a cat to see if it was real!

kelly_west742mo ago

Yeah but even beyond the tools thing, there's something else. People just don't think to question stuff that fits what they already believe. Like @avery_lopez's grandma zooming in on a cat photo, she probably wouldn't do the same for a political video that confirms her views. I've seen people share obvious fake screenshots of news headlines just because the headline matched their opinions, no checking required. The real problem isn't laziness or lack of software, it's that our brains are wired to accept things that feel right to us.