I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, but just to be clear, Steve Harvey is famous. The ever-popular Family Feud host/comedian/author/etc. has been known and beloved for everything from his colorful fashion sense to his humorous takes on love and life, and his reactions when shocked and speechless to (of course) his signature mustache. So, when word got around a couple of days ago that the celebrity Ohio native had died, many were saddened. Luckily, that news wasn’t actually true and we know the wild story behind the death hoax and how A.I. sparked it.
How Did A.I. Lead To The Steve Harvey Death Hoax?
Unfortunately, it seems that one of the things that come with being famous is having people speculate and/or prematurely report about the death of said celeb, and this has recently happened to one of the best game show hosts, Steve Harvey (who, yes, is still alive). It was late on December 17 when a report headlined “Steve Harvey Passed Away Today: Remembering The Legacy Of A Comedy Legend” appeared on Trend Cast News (via The Wrap) and was then picked up by news aggregator Newsbreak.
As you can imagine, the bogus report spread quickly, with the former Miss Universe pageant host’s name trending on Google and fans taking to X to share thoughts. But, it seems that lots of people caught on almost as fast to the truth that Harvey was actually still with us:
- “Gmorn'n did anyone else wake up to Steve Harvey passed away news and it was a Spam or virus link”
- “Chill out Steve Harvey did not die… Why they doin him like that?”
- “They got me fucked up thinking Steve Harvey died today”
It turns out that the post was created by Artificial Intelligence, and, according to Reuters, Newsbreak has been caught posting completely false information and making erroneous (and potentially illegal) changes to the stories it takes from other sites, and done so at least 40 other times since 2021.
We’ve seen many times over the past several years just how easy it is for fake news to pick up steam and end up being reported as fact. While, sure, the occasional A.I.-generated image of Harvey running from monsters in the woods and fronting a hardcore rock band can be hilarious, when the technology is used in actual attempts to convince us that things like Disney World being flooded by Hurricane Milton happened or to fake the likeness of actors and others in a realistic way, it becomes dangerous very fast.
For Steve Harvey’s part, he’s spent most of this week on his social media as usual, and while he hasn’t made any official comment about the false report of his death, it may be because there have been several other false reports about Harvey dying in the past year or so, and he’s just already over it.
