WEBSITES USE ROBOT-MADE SAD CRAFTSMEN TO SELL YOU CAPS FROM A FACTORY

What actually happened: ABC News finds online resellers using AI images to pose as struggling mom-and-pop shops

IDIOCRACY LEVEL: 6/10

An ABC News investigation found dozens of online stores using AI-generated photos and videos to pose as struggling or retiring small businesses, selling clothing, jewelry, lamps and caps at inflated prices. One buyer's caps shipped from mainland China, and a fake lamp company had no trace at its stated address.

Shopping update, 2505: citizens are buying caps from a sad old craftsman who is neither old, nor a craftsman, nor sad, because a computer drew him. The shop's tearful going-out-of-business story is generated, the wrecked storefront is generated, and the caps come from a factory far away. Investigators found the same garage populating video after video. Shoppers say that if the screen is crying, the cap must be handmade.