As families desperately seek to find missing loved ones and communities grapple with immeasurable losses of both life and property in the wake of Hurricane Helene, AI slop scammers appear to be capitalizing on the moment for personal gain.
A Facebook account called “Coastal Views” usually shares calmer AI imagery of nature-filled beachside scenes. The account’s banner image showcases a signpost reading “OBX Live,” OBX being shorthand for North Carolina’s Outer Banks islands.
But starting this weekend, the account shifted its approach dramatically, as first flagged by a social media user on X.
Instead of posting “photos” of leaping dolphins and sandy beaches, the account suddenly started publishing images of flooded mountain neighborhoods, submerged houses, and dogs sitting on top of roofs.
But instead of spreading vital information to those affected by the natural disaster, or at the very least sharing real photos of the destruction, the account is seemingly trying to use AI to cash in on all the attention the hurricane has been getting.
This is bizarre to me. There’s plenty of actual pictures of hurrican devastation.
But starting this weekend, the account shifted its approach dramatically, as first flagged by a social media user on X.
Instead of posting “photos” of leaping dolphins and sandy beaches, the account suddenly started publishing images of flooded mountain neighborhoods, submerged houses, and dogs sitting on top of roofs.
But instead of spreading vital information to those affected by the natural disaster, or at the very least sharing real photos of the destruction, the account is seemingly trying to use AI to cash in on all the attention the hurricane has been getting.
They need an editor.
I read this recently (quoted in the article too). It was fascinating and explains the « why » :
I knew it was this guy just from the headlines. He’s tricked the media in the past with the fake beach pictures after hurricanes/nor’easterns… also flooded the market around here with fake sunsets and dolphins, etc. and has really hurt the livelihood of some local artists because a lot of people can’t tell they are fakes. He’s another provoquer and seeing this make the news will inspire him to keep making more fakes.
Facebook is 99% AI slop at this point. And they don’t care. It gets engagement, and that’s all they care about.
