Deepfakes

There’s a war happening in Iran. There’s also a completely different war happening on your timeline — and that one is mostly fake. Since US and Israeli strikes on Iran began February 28, social media has been hammered with AI-generated videos claiming to show missile strikes on Tel Aviv, burning skyscrapers in Dubai, and devastated military bases. These clips have collectively racked up hundreds of millions of views. The part that should make your stomach turn: the people creating them are getting paid to do it. ...

Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt trading punches on a crumbling rooftop. Donald Trump doing kung fu in a bamboo grove. Will Smith battling a spaghetti monster in what looks like a $200 million blockbuster. None of it is real. All of it was made in minutes by a Chinese AI tool that just sent Hollywood into full meltdown. ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0 launched last week and immediately became the most controversial AI release since DeepSeek rattled Silicon Valley. The clips it produces are so convincing that Deadpool screenwriter Rhett Reese looked at the Cruise vs. Pitt footage and wrote: “I hate to say it. It’s likely over for us.” ...