When Catherine, Princess of Wales, released a video statement last week sharing that she had been diagnosed with cancer, some users on social media said they regretted engaging in wild speculation about her prolonged public absence. But others jumped immediately to a new conspiracy: The video was generated by artificial intelligence
“I don’t know what to believe anymore,” said one woman in a video with 1.4 million views on TikTok, capturing the general befuddlement around some news events and online images amid AI technology’s rapid advancement. The woman — whose TikTok bio describes her as a “world traveler, photographer, designer, and real estate investor” — then contributed to the confusion by breaking down what she claimed were signs of AI in Catherine’s recorded statement.
BBC Studios, a TV production arm of the BBC, has confirmed that it filmed the video of Catherine’s message last week at Windsor Castle, and Kensington Palace told The Washington Post that accusations of AI tampering are “factually inaccurate.” Multiple deepfake forensics experts agreed, saying they examined the video and found no signs of AI manipulation.
“All of these armchair forensic analysts out there that are claiming that they find evidence of AI manipulation, it’s a spectacular combination of ignorance and arrogance,” said Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley who specializes in analyzing digital images. Farid said he reviewed the video and found “absolutely zero evidence” that AI was involved.
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