This is an ongoing feature to detail what is and is not bullshit on the internet. You should definitely check with reliable fact-checking sources before posting anything questionable on the internet; this is a collection of links to assist you in doing so. Let’s all reduce the signal to noise ratio, mmmkay?
• A decidedly realistic video of workers removing President Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center is AI garbage. I’ve seen it, and it definitely looked real except for a missing letter on the Kennedy line. I had dismissed that as possibly due to the restoration, but no, it’s just bullshit. In fact, the Trump-appointed Kennedy Center board will be appealing the court’s decision, even as Trump says he no longer has any interest in developing the programming at the center if his name isn’t on it.
• No, the Pope did not use AI to write a message decrying the dangers of AI. The first drafts were literally written in pen. Don’t people have better things to do?
• When they found a bag of cocaine in the White House, some wit suggested it belonged to Hunter Biden. He replied, “It most definitely was not. I would never have forgotten my drugs.” Yes, the quote actually happened, because people still make jokes on the internet. Hunter Biden has been sober for seven years, and good luck to him.
• Republican Texan Ken Paxton, running for the U.S. Senate, accused Democratic candidate James Talarico of being a vegan. Apparently this is the worst sin one can commit in Texas, and Politifact rated it false. “He’s a vegan who thinks God is nonbinary and that there’s actually six biological sexes,” Paxton said, also calling him “Tofu Talarico.” His statements repeated by President Trump, and are apparently holding sway even as Talarico is seen eating turkey legs at fairs and festivals. His statement: He’s “been eating barbecue since before Ken Paxton’s first indictment.”