From fake photos of a sobbing Bob Dylan and a hospitalized Phil Collins to rock legends supposedly singing at Ozzy Osbourne’s memorial, absurd and unreal images are flooding the internet
They’re the intimate, private moments that fans of classic rockers never get to see. Steven Tyler, hammer and nails in hand, building a doghouse for rescued animals. Mick Jagger, Elton John, and Rod Stewart harmonizing at Ozzy Osbourne’s memorial service. Jagger and Tyler cheering up a bed-ridden Phil Collins in a hospital. Bruce Springsteen treating health-care workers to a rendition of “If I Should Fall Behind” while visiting his wife Patti in a facility.
Personal and heartwarming, yes, but also, to put it mildly, completely bogus.
From fake bands to artificially generated songs, AI is increasingly infiltrating the music world. Last month, a mystery band called Velvet Sundown appeared on streaming services, garnering hundreds of thousands of listeners before ultimately admitting the alleged band was, in the words of their creators, “a synthetic music project guided by human creative direction, and composed, voiced, and visualized with the support of artificial intelligence.”
In that context, AI-generated images of rock stars were inevitable, but the photos of music legends that have been increasingly popping up on Facebook and elsewhere are jaw-droppingly outrageous. Collins rescued a missing child at an airport and scolded police for not doing their jobs? Springsteen bought a diner to give out free food to the homeless? Adele and Adam Lambert sang together at Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s memorial service? Tyler and Taylor Swift serenaded Queen Camilla with “Happy Birthday” at a lavish party in her honor? Bob Dylan paid Collins a hospital visit and brought Dick Van Dyke an early 100th birthday cake? Each of these totally fake images has accompanying hyperbolic prose too: When Paul McCartney and Collins supposedly visited Willie Nelson in an Austin hospital, “The room didn’t feel like a hospital anymore — it felt like the heart of music itself, still beating.”
“These types of posts definitely tap into nostalgia, and people want to believe these types of things,” says Justin Grome, founder of Clonefluence, a social-media marketing and consulting agency that specializes in music. “Even if they aren’t real, they’re wholesome. It’s not a case of fake news in the political sense. It’s not rea