A Neil deGrasse Tyson video of him ‘confirming the Earth is flat’ has been left viewers utterly creeped out.
Tyson - a Harvard graduate who is the recipient of the NASA Distinguished Public Service Award - regularly educates the general public on the wonders of the cosmos.
He's explained how getting sucked into a black hole may not be as bad as you think and reassured us about how scientists can deflect 'city killer' asteroids.
So understandably people were more than a little surprised when the respected astrophysicist appeared to be advocating the barmy Flat Earth conspiracy theory - but all was not as it seems.
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Tyson spoke about this in his newest video on StarTalk, the scientists YouTube channel in which he hosts interviews and explainers on fascinating topics.
In the video, Tyson appears to claim he ‘can’t escape the conclusion that the Earth might actually be flat’.
But before you think you're losing your mind... that's not actually Tyson.
He follows this up with: “That’s not me, it was never me, those aren’t my words, that’s what’s called a deepfake.”
A short clip of this was posted to X with a caption saying, ‘we’re f*cked’.
Many viewers were utterly shocked by how realistic the deepfake is, months after a street interview with two women - neither of whom were real - went viral for similar reasons.
One person replied: "I couldn't even tell, terrifying.”
Another wrote: “Any time I sorta lull myself back into optimism for the future something like this rolls in and punches me in the stomach.”
Others called for regulations to be brought in flagging when videos on social media are AI or deepfakes, putting the onus on social media companies.
One reply said: "Anything coming out of this deepfake software should be flagged as AI or fake to notify the users before viewing.
"Every social media platform should adhere to this."
How deepfakes 'affect the stability of peace in the world', according to Neil deGrasse Tyson
Speaking in his YouTube video, Tyson revealed that he only realised the dangers that deepfakes pose when he himself realised he was the subject of numerous fake videos.
Most of the deepfakes involving the popular scientist involved scientific scripts being read out by his AI voice, with the majority including scientific errors or outright misinformation.
He revealed that actor Terry Crews, a close friend of his, had fallen for one of the deepfakes of him talking about ‘type two civilisations', with Crews saying it ‘scared’ him when he found out from Tyson it was fake.
The scientist pointed out that, while scientific deepfakes are worrying, what is especially worrying is when political figures can be made to make statements they hadn’t made using AI, pointing out that it ‘affects the stability of peace in the world’.
This has occurred recently in the race for New York mayor, with Andrew Cuomo being slammed for using a deepfake AI video of opponent Zohran Mamdani as part of his campaign.
Speaking in Tyson’s video was Bitdefender Chief Security Strategist Alex Cosoi, who also pointed out that in the early days of the Ukraine-Russia war there were numerous widespread fake AI videos of Volodymyr Zelenskyy surrendering.
Topics: AI, Social Media, Conspiracy Theory, Celebrity, Science, YouTube
Michael Slavin