The Clarke family: The mystery that never was.
As reported on Petapixel (and elsewhere) large numbers of people were completely fooled by the story of a family that supposedly vanished only to be uncovered later entombed in a makeshift brick structure. The story was entirely fictional being generated, complete with convincing “photographs”, by artificial intelligence.
From Petapixel – AI image of Clarke family fools internet
I see so many people uncritically parroting nonsense online, it is so easy to turn an emotional response into a simple button push and in doing so promote material that really should be left to vanish into the ether. Trolling has become a sport
There are so many angles to this…. from social media giants promoting (perpetuating) “viral” content for profit, to the distortion of political coverage. All of this and we are in the year of a US presidential election where the line between fact and fantasy is already blurred and screwball conspiracy theories thrive!
Conclusion
Question what you see and hear, apply critical thinking before jumping to comment or share anything you see in the media, particularly on social media. ~KD.
PS: I still think Abe Lincoln got it right! 🙂