5 tips for not getting tricked online this April Fools' Day — and beyond
Myths and misinformation run rampant on the internet all the time these days, but never more reliably than on April 1.
People have celebrated April Fools' Day for centuries with all sorts of jokes and pranks, and while old-school traditions (hello, rubber snakes) remain plenty popular, gags have grown considerably more high tech over the years.
And fake news and announcements — whether by a major company, public figure, a random social media user or your childhood best friend — can take off quickly and morph wildly, thanks to social media.
It can be tough to tell whether something online is real, especially with artificial intelligence making it increasingly easy for anyone to create fake images, video, audio and text.
It took Sam Gregory, for example, under a minute to write the text prompt needed to create a fake image of the Easter Bunny for his kids last year, as he told NPR. He's well-acquainted with the challenges of combating deepfakes as the executive director, a human rights nonprofit whose work involves helping people recognize and respond to deceptive AI.
