AI is the bane of my existence. That much could’ve been deduced from so many opinions I’ve shared on the tech thus far. And it’s not my fault, given how it’s being used. Now, fake GTA 6 “leaks” are spreading, using AI-generated videos that deceive people into thinking they’re seeing Rockstar’s upcoming title.
So one can understand the frustration. As per IGN, an account called “Zap Actu GTA6” on X has shared a supposed “leak” of GTA 6 that allegedly initially appeared on and spread throughout TikTok. The video depicts one of the presumed protagonists of the game, Lucia, walking down a waterfront, which, as the account suggests, highlights the realism and groundbreaking nature of GTA 6.
The only issue? It’s entirely fake. The video is fully generated using AI, and though you can clearly see it’s neither super realistic nor quite close to what we’ve seen of GTA 6 thus far (including both leaks and actual trailers), many people were fooled. The faked leak can easily trick any person who isn’t paying attention and just saw the video on their feed.
In the time it took me to write this article, the video was deleted, and the account changed its name to Actuzz Mag, though it did first admit the leak was entirely faked. IGN captured some of the response before it too was taken down, where Zap Actu apologized for tricking people, as they were only having some fun, before adding that 50 percent of people took the bait, whereas the other half saw through it.
While the technology is certainly not up there as a means to full, realistic, seamless video generation, it’s certainly getting there. The fact that it fooled half of the people is incredible, and it’s going to keep improving as the likes of Sora 2 (OpenAI’s audio-visual generative AI tool) continue to develop.
Countless celebrities, governments, and other persons and institutions have been copied, misappropriated, and used for, as I’ve said in the intro, nefarious means. They get placed in AI-generated ads supposedly “endorsing” products, other tools, financial decisions, crypto, and so on. I would say this never tricked anyone into forking over hard-earned cash, but unfortunately, that is not the case. At least in the case above, it’s just a meme, but the implications of having a strong, accurate, and realistic AI are grim at best.
I’ve even seen the prime minister of my country, alongside members of his cabinet, placed on ads advocating for Ponzi schemes, pyramid investments, and other clear scams, with the government barely able to do anything about it.
People using these tools will stop at nothing, and it’s only going to get worse.
