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Don't fall for AI-generated sob stories [1]

['Grant St. Clair']

Date: 2026-05-12  

Would you pay a hundred dollars for a tote bag? No?

What if we told you it was a handcrafted artisan good? What if you were letting down a bunch of sad old ladies we're going to attach pictures of? What if they were going out of business forever because of heartless people like you, and were forced to put everything on sale — but only if you act now?

The proliferation of generative AI has been disastrous for any number of reasons, and scams like the one described above — because they are almost always a scam — is a big one. It's easier than ever for people to spin up sob stories accompanied by reasonably plausible AI images of the sad old lady in question and paste them everywhere for easy money. If you've seen ads like those around, or even if you haven't, Atomic Shrimp's breakdown of how the scheme works is remarkably educational.

Information is power, after all. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the bags also look absolutely terrible!

[END]
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[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2026/05/12/dont-fall-for-ai-generated-sob-stories.html

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