Posted on 12/30/2025 5:13:55 AM PST by MtnClimber
A warning from Victor Davis Hanson warning from Victor Davis Hanson: somebody has been producing and posting elaborate and well-made AI-generated videos purporting to originate from Prof. Hanson himself. They have been posted on both YouTube and X, and perhaps elsewhere. They’re very convincing at first glance, and appear to have been filmed in the same book-lined setting that VDH uses for his Daily Signal videos. (I actually watched one of these last week, and a minute or two passed before I was certain that this was not Victor David Hanson.)
The producers of the videos are as yet unknown. Hanson speculates that they could be leftist, a faction within conservatism, or entrepreneurs seeking to make a buck off Hanson’s popularity. I strongly suspect that the last is the most likely. There exists a similar run of videos claiming to originate from historian Dr. Susan Paine, who has released a successful series of YouTube lectures in collaboration with podcaster Dwarkesh Patel. Paine is clearly no conservative – she is dismissive of Donald Trump, MAGA, and Elon Musk, just to start with. Yet this new run of “Paine” videos shares distinct similarities with the Hanson fakes: no source, overlong, and with slight but unquestionable anomalies arising not from particular items but the overall gestalt – a kind of intellectual version of the uncanny valley effect.
Two particular elements appear to have annoyed Prof. Hanson: a vulgarity in tone and various political stances that Hanson would never take.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
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This sort of thing is massively fraudulent and harmful to those being exploited. While new laws may be needed to combat it, I would prefer that YouTube and X require creators to openly identify themselves whenever they present their content as commentary from a public personality. At a minimum, they should release the creators identify to the public person who is be misrepresented upon request. A few lawsuits might put a check on this particular kind of deception.
I know those fakes as soon as I see them.
Yesterday, I opened a VDH video and there was a notice in green indicating it was made up from AI.
I like VDH, but his videos tend to be very long, and in some cases tedious to make his points. He is also very repetitive in subject matter.
But, in the long run, VDH is a true winner preaching American salvation sermons
And the infestation of the Carbon-based Units will be eliminated.
I think the author meant to say "Dr. Sarah Paine." And, yes, she's all over the place on Youtube.
There seems to be a big market for scammers in selling seeds attributed to fake fantastical AI plants … if anyone receives the seeds and plants them they will be very disappointed, but by that time the fraudster is long gone with the money. I see obviously fake products everywhere, and the scary thing is there myst be a bunch of people falling for the obvious stuff but how many are falling for the subtle stuff too?
There are so many people who do not know better. This is such a sorry thing. Outright opened the door to fraud.
It may bring back shopping in stores and kill online shopping if they don’t get a handle on this.
It disgusts me.
Keep this in mind when any other conservative person is purported to say something out of character. Always look for a “watermark” that kinda certifies the video. VDH stated that the 6 that he spotted corrupting his message had flashed (like too fast for human to spot) a disclaimer.
Commie trash will exploit this success in damaging VDH’s message by doing the same to anyone else who engages in wrongthink.
And those YouTube videos of speeches from Rev. Billy Graham, those aren’t Billy Graham.
And I have people belittle me because I say AI is nothing but trouble....no doubt will be catastrophic in the future that will make people then sit up and take notice - TOO LATE for whatever is in the future!
“”VDH has also announced that he is scheduled for major surgery.””
I hope nothing too serious....he’s much younger than I am!!! I graduated from high school the year after he was born. A great man - great for our country!!!!
AI is somewhat easy to spot. 1) they pronounce words wrong, 2) they never shut for a break 30. 3) they are on a loop of sorts, 4) they won’t look directly at you for long, if at all.
The ability to easily do believable fakes is a huge problem.
As it proliferate you won’t know who or what to believe causing chaos in the minds of people.
How do you fix this?
I would say this is a good reason to abandon at least part of AI if that can be done. This crap should definitely not be allowed. How can this be sidestepped & the perp prosecuted in such a way that it won’t likely be tried again?
People are screwing up YouTube with their shite AI videos and now they are messing with Victor Davis Hanson.
Bkmk
It is serious and was supposed to take place yesterday (Tuesday). Not seen any further news yet.
Here’s the announcement:
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4359422/posts
The fake-real ID.
The coming Mark of Revelation.
Darn...not good. Hopefully there will be some GOOD news today - I’ll watch for it. Keep me posted if you see anything and I’ll do the same. Thanks.
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