Fake news surrounding the resignation of Gary Gensler, chair of the SEC, has once again been making waves on social media. This time, however, artificial intelligence generated fake news appears to be the source of the rumours.
On 1 July 2023, an article surfaced on the website "thecryptoalert.com", stating that an anonymous official from the SEC had confirmed Gensler's resignation. The article alleges that Gensler resigned after being subjected to an interal investigation and review within the SEC after purported 'misconduct'.
Noting the lack of official press around this would-be-bombshell announcement, Cointelegraph conducted an analysis of the article using third-party AI detector ZeroGPT to reveal that the article exhibited a score of 96.8%, signaling a very high degree of AI text generation.
However, this did not stop several big name Twitter and YouTube accounts from reposting the content. Altcoin Daily, a cryptocurrency YouTube channel with 1.3M subscribers at the time of writing this article, posted a video spreading the rumours:
False rumours of Gensler's resignation from the SEC have circulated before. Although many members of the cryptocurrency community may prefer a different Commissioner to Mr Gensler (one that prefers constructive rule-making and fit for purpose regulation over regulation by enforcement), the latest rumours are a prime example of why readers and consumers of news must remain vigilant. In an era where information spreads like wildfire and artificial intelligence is becoming more and more powerful, consumers of news must continue to question the sources of information and scrutinise claims, especially those as significant as a purported resignation of a key regulatory official.
Those creating and disseminating false information, including AI generated content, should also be mindful of the potential legal consequences. Persons seeking to profit from spreading misinformation (for example, over a key government resignation or policy change) may open themselves to allegations of fraud or market manipulation.