Have you recently seen a photo on social media that appears to show a man wearing 1980s-style clothing smoking a cigarette at McDonald's? The image has gone viral, with 21 million views as of this writing. It has recorded more than 100 views. But it's completely fake. This image was created using generative AI.
The image, which shows a man with long curly brown hair and a mustache, immediately attracted attention when it was first posted on X. on tuesday. This man appears to be smoking a cigarette while exhaling smoke, which was allowed at some McDonald's stores. 20th century Before the Clean Indoor Air Act became the norm.
But if you look closely at the image, there are some clear signs that his “photo” was created using AI. First, look at your fingers and hands. Did you notice that the man's left hand is unusually long, with no visible wrist? It looks like his arm has morphed into incredibly long fingers.
Next, look at the characters in the image. The red cup on the table looks like an AI trying to imitate a Coke brand, but with all the nonsense. Also, although McDonald's signature golden arches look accurate on french fries boxes, McDonald's french fries packaging was typically primarily red rather than yellow. It also looks like a straw is sticking out of the container. I've never tried eating fries with a straw, but I imagine it would be a difficult task.
The man behind the main subject of the “photo” appears even more distorted, with both strange-looking hands and a matching face. The man's hat in the background also appears to be an attempt at both a 2000s shirt style and a bucket hat, further puzzling the main subject.
And what does the text in the upper right corner say? Although there is only part of the text, it appears to be written in a shape similar to a McDonald's sign.
Last but not least, please check the status of the shirt in question. The man appears to be shirtless and wearing a denim vest, but his sleeves appear to be a white T-shirt. It doesn't make much sense.
The reason this image went viral online is because, clearly, whether it's the man with that hairstyle or just smoking in general, it speaks to a version of the past that no longer exists. Smoking cigarettes in public was the norm until it was phased out in a decades-long process across the United States to protect public health. Many states first established “smoking” and non-smoking sections in restaurants in the late 20th century, and by the early 21st century most indoor spaces were completely smoke-free.There's more few states Smoking is allowed indoors in some venues, but fewer and fewer are allowed each year.
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If you saw this image in your feed and didn't immediately sign up as an AI, you're not alone. I regularly debunk images, but when I saw them for the first time yesterday in X, I thought nothing of it. But perhaps this speaks to the fact that lower-stakes images receive less scrutiny when circulating on social media platforms.
Frank J. Fleming, a former writer for the conservative news satire website The Babylon Bee, pointed out in X how many people let their guard down when sharing fake smoking images. .
“This is a very interesting case where people are fooled by an AI image because the stakes are so low. There are lots of obvious signs that this is AI, but most of the time because it's not part of the focus of the image. People will miss them. Also, this isn't a case where you think someone is cheating on you, so there's no reason to analyze it that close.''Fleming I wrote to X.
It reminded me of the viral image of Pope Francis wearing this hat. 2023 big white puffer coat, another example where people immediately believed it might be real, even though it didn't register as something that important, just because it was still interesting to watch. Who cares if the Pope wears a cool jacket? Well, if that's just an example of material excess or fashion consciousness by someone who is supposed to be above worldly concerns, then there are plenty of them.
All we know for sure is that this won't be the last fake image created using generative AI to go viral. And with the US presidential election just around the corner, more serious images are likely to circulate.
A version of this article first appeared on Gizmodo.