Elton, Celine & the Creeping Threat of AI-Fabricated Entertainment News

On Aug. 25, a 68-year-old woman from Henderson, Nev. shared a heartwarming social media story about three Las Vegas music legends who came together at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace three days earlier to perform.

She didn’t know the Facebook post was AI-generated, complete with fabricated images and copy. And when skeptical commenters began challenging its authenticity, she doubled down.

“No it’s not a scam,” she wrote. “I got it from the local news. Google it.”

Casino.org traced the origin to a fake news site called storynews.us, registered in 2023 by an anonymous owner using privacy shielding. Storynews.us picked up the article and photos from a Facebook page called Pop Rock Universe, which published them the day before.

Both items showed up in the Henderson woman’s Google search.

By Monday afternoon, the Facebook post had racked up 4,200 shares and 2,000 comments.

When confronted with the truth by Casino.org, the Henderson woman — who asked not to be named — was stunned.

“Oh no, really?” she replied. “I guess you can’t always tell what’s real anymore.”

Think Twice

Most commenters embraced the story without question. They imagined how magical the performance must’ve been, reminisced about their own previous concert experiences, and expressed sadness over Neil Diamond’s confinement to a wheelchair. But a vocal minority saw through the illusion.

“Dead giveaway it’s AI,” wrote Kevin Ouellette. “Look at Celine’s bracelet in the first picture — it’s gone in the second.”

The facts are clear:

• Elton John and Celine Dion are both retired due to serious health issues
• Neil Diamond, while battling Parkinson’s, is not known to be confined to a wheelchair
• The Colosseum at Caesars Palace was dark the night the performance reportedly happened

The Real Problem: Eroding Trust

One faked entertainment story is no big deal, right? But thousands of stories like this cause a gentle but constant erosion of the trust we place in visual evidence. And this renders a concerning visual about the dangers ahead — once AI gets good enough to no longer misplace Celine Dion’s bracelet.

Indeed, some commenters grasped the implications immediately.

“We have to check every picture, research every claim,” wrote Larry Hofffman beneath the Pop Rock Universe story. “Nothing can be trusted. AI may bring wonderful things, but it also brings a powerful tool for those who want to do harm and trick us.”

Laura Lynn Booth added: “Wait till someone uses your image and makes a video that says you killed people, left the scene of a crime and resisted arrest. Is the information wrong? Yes, but how are you going to change the minds of the multitudes who believe it’s true?”

Primed for Manipulation

Eventually, skepticism gives way to apathy.

“Jeez, so what?” commented Chris Hicks. “If it’s AI or real, what difference does it make? It is a sweet sentiment. Why not just accept that?”

That indifference is precisely what makes AI-generated misinformation so dangerous. When people stop trusting their own senses and accept whatever truths they’re told, authoritarianism gains ground. It can discredit whistleblowers, suppress independent media and monopolize truth.

According to “Freedom on the Net,” a 2023 report from the independent watchdog group Freedom House, generative AI was used in at least 16 countries to spread disinformation that year. The report highlights cases where AI-generated content was used to manipulate public opinion, specifically mentioning instances of deepfake videos featuring news anchors promoting state propaganda.

The antidote to all this isn’t blind trust or blanket doubt. It’s discernment. We don’t need to question everything, just the things that ask us not to. Legitimate media sources earn trust through transparency, accountability and context.

So instead of retreating into cynicism, we need to learn to lean into curiosity. Ask better questions. Demand better answers.

The truth can still be found buried just beneath all the fake noise.