Viral Halloween videos of seniors: The truth behind the AI illusion
TikToker were fooled by the witty AI-generated clips.
Image: Screenshot / TikTok
There used to be a saying, “Seeing is believing”, but these days it is becoming harder and harder to actually believe what you see.
Towards the end of October, when everyone was deep in the Halloween spirit, witty videos of elderly ladies and gentlemen from a retirement home went viral for their clever Halloween outfits.
With millions of views, these clips were popping up all over TikTok.
One showed an elderly lady, Mrs Watson, wearing a sweater with bottles of spices taped to it. She proudly revealed that she was a “Spice Girl.”
That post alone was viewed more than 15 million times with 1.4 million likes.
Another video that racked up 2.8 million views featured Mrs Dalton in a khaki cardigan and a terracotta potplant holder on her head.
When asked what she was dressed as, she replied, “I am a pot head.”
Rows of gold coins taped onto his chest helped Mr Bennet complete his look. When asked what he was supposed to be, he responded, “I am a treasure chest.” His clip was viewed more than 2.5 million times.
With numbers like these, it is no surprise that these endearing clips of witty seniors had viewers in stitches and eager to reshare them.
But once Halloween passed, TikTokers were left stunned when they discovered that their favourite oldies were all AI-generated.
It soon became clear that very few people had taken the time to read the account bio. If they did, they would have known from the start that the clips were created with AI.
Their TikTok bio clearly states that it's a fictional world.
Image: Screenshot / TikTok
In the Basin Creek Retirement account bio, it states, “Welcome to Basin Creek Retirement Village. Community, care and bingo every Thursday. A fictional world made with AI and a lot of love.”
If people went to their website, they would also see the About section, which clearly states, “Basin Creek is not a real place, but we like to think it could be.”
On the website it clearly states that it's all fictional.
Image: Screenshot
They even have a gift shop selling real merchandise.
Many followers are now gobsmacked after discovering the truth behind these viral videos.
TikToker PolitiFact posted a video captioned “Wanna hear something really spooky”, which exposed that the clips were all fakes, and her followers were not impressed.
“Why can’t we have a bit of joy?” one person said.
Another commented, “This is infuriating. Whatever happened to acting? There are plenty of actors who would do it just for the love of it.”
“I have fallen for four AI videos. So close to giving up on the internet,” said another TikToker.
One woman stitched a video and admitted, “I know I am cooked because I have been eating up every single damn video.”
These super-realistic videos are yet another example of how far AI has come and how easy it has become to pull the wool over people's eyes.
Now people will be viewing everything they see online with a spoonful of scepticism.