By Charles Krome

Copyright jalopnik

Static Media, Jalopnik’s parent company, doesn’t allow the use of AI-generated content, period. Other sites, however, and plenty of scammers, have embraced it. It’s led to a huge increase in fake stories and images appearing throughout the web, like the ones promoting AI slop motorcycles that don’t exist. And it’s made worse because some social media outlets treat this junk like real news, piling it into people’s feed along with actual human-generated content. One study, for example, indicated that AI was likely to be responsible for more than half of all long-form posts on LinkedIn.

That apparently was what happened over the summer when a rumor hit the internet that the U.S. Department of Transportation, concerned about seniors’ physical and mental abilities to safely operate a car, would make it more difficult for them to get their driver’s licenses. Good idea or not, the story wasn’t true. The fact-checking website Snopes did a nice job debunking the issue, but that didn’t stop posts about stricter driving laws for seniors from filling the web.

Nor is this a problem only for U.S. drivers. Australia’s Royal Automobile Association reported a similar scam was targeting that country’s senior drivers. Said the RAA’s Senior Road Safety Manager, Charles Mountain, “The misinformation serves as a reminder for drivers, particularly older motorists, to verify road rule changes through trusted sources.” Which is good advice in the United States, too.