Fake AI Halloween parade misleads Irish revellers

Occurred: October 2024

Hundrees of people gathered in central Dublin, Ireland, for a fake AI-generated Halloween celebration, prompting growing concerns over the potential for AI to spread misinformation and disinformation. 

What happened

Events website MySpiritHalloween.com published an AI-generated article and video promoting the festivities. The post promised “spectacular floats to thrilling street performances” and described the route in detail. 

The video, in particular, was widely shared online, leading many to believe it was a real event. The video featured realistic-looking characters and crowds, making it difficult to distinguish from genuine footage. 

The parade never happened, disappointing and causing anger amongst the hundreds who had made their way to central Dublin for the event.

Why it happened

The increasing sophistication of AI technologies has made it easier to create highly realistic and convincing deepfakes. 

In this instance, MySpiritHalloween.com owner Nazir Ali claimed the fracas was due to a mistake made by a team of freelance content writers, who had drawn on the fact that similar parades had taken place in Dublin in prevous years. 

He also blamed Dublin authorities for not correcting the entry on his website, and said the content had been produced in part by ChatGPT and optimised for search engines.

What it means

The incident underscores the potential for AI to be used to spread misinformation and deceive the public. 

It is also an indication of the amount of so-called "AI slop" being produced and circulating online. 

Slop

Slop is low-quality media—including writing and images—made using generative artificial intelligence technology.

Source: Wikipedia 🔗

System 🤖

Operator: 
Developer: OpenAI
Country: Ireland
Sector: Media/entertainment/sports/arts
Purpose: Generate event content
Technology: Deepfake - image, video
Issue: Mis/disinformation
Transparency: Governance; Marketing

Page info
Type: Issue
Published: November 2024