Rebranding as “Voltswagen.” Shutting down Trader Joe’s. Emailing confirmation of a $750 food delivery.
As April 1 approaches, consumers would be wise to extend even more skepticism, with experts saying artificial intelligence ramps up the potential for high-tech promotional ploys. Whether through generative text-to-video tools that conjure rich scenes from dashed-off instructions or chatbots that serve up endless ad ideas on command, AI raises new questions of authenticity and could make distinguishing between jokes, facts and deepfakes even harder.
Other April Fools’ Day ruses that backfired include when Yahoo News falsely reported in 2016 that Trader Joe's would close all of its 457 stores in less than a year, and when British online food delivery company Deliveroo sent its customers fake confirmation emails in 2021 for orders of $750, causing thousands to think their accounts had been hacked.
To guard against deception, Astvansh said disclosure of both methods and intentions will be key, especially on April 1. “It’s basically making sure that the images or the videos that are being produced by these platforms are tagged in a way that when they then show up on the internet, labels are being attached to them so … users know what they're seeing is AI,” said Sam Andrey, managing director of the Dais, a public policy think tank at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Handout / ReutersKing Charles avoided referring directly to his or Kate Middleton’s recent health travails in a special Easter message broadcast Thursday, but praised those who “extend the hand of friendship” in times of need and overtly extolled “Christian” virtues.The pre-recorded audio message was played at the traditional Maundy Thursday service at which the monarch hands out symbolic alms called “Maundy money” to individuals who have performed “outstanding Christian service.