AI is intensifying a 'collapse' of trust online, stirs confusion around news events
An AI generated image of Maduro's capture by the U.S that circulated on social media.
NBC News
For years, people could largely trust, at least instinctively, that seeing was believing. Now, what’s fake often looks real and what’s real often looks fake.
Within the first week of 2026, that has already become a conundrum many media experts say will be hard to move past, thanks to advances in artificial intelligence.
President Donald Trump’s Venezuela operation almost immediately spurred the spread of AI-generated images, old videos and altered photos across social media. Earlier this month, after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a woman in her car, many online circulated a fake, most likely AI-edited image of the scene that appears to be based on real video. Others used AI in attempts to digitally remove the mask of the ICE officer who shot her.
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