It seems like the journalism industry is at a breaking point. In March 2026, an image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu circulated widely in the media. It allegedly showed the prime minister with extra fingers. The clip created a social media frenzy, and users were either misled or convinced. The imperative question here is, despite the clip of Netanyahu being real, users reiterated that it was Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated. This fallacious reaction raises questions that with the flood of fake news and AI-generated video clips, perhaps users have failed to believe even real news.
With the rise of AI and digital evolution, including ChatGPT and other models, it is now easier to fabricate images, videos, and content to influence public opinion. AI-generated fake news is content or a piece of news that is edited or altered through AI technology or tools. It contains text, videos, and images and often mimics the sound of a well-known personality. It makes you believe that it is real.
If you give AI models any topic, it can instantly create an article that is professional and believable, like real journalism. Not only that, you can create your own media coverage, similar to that of a news media house, with the help of fake journalists, photos, profiles, and articles that look like a real news media network. For instance, in 2023, according to The Guardian, NewsGuard, an organization tracking false information, identified about 49 websites as news sites that were completely generated by AI. The number of such websites has crossed more than 3,000. Among them was Celebritiesdeaths.com, where all the articles were entirely generated by AI. This content is then analyzed and distributed through algorithm-based social media platforms like TikTok or YouTube to the public. Most of the powerful AI tools are free or cheap, and anybody can use them to create a “news” network for views and trends.
Social media apps like YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, and X have enabled the spread of AI-generated fake news. It quickly spreads by combining real-scene content with algorithm-based user-generated content. Reels often pop up that attract attention and encourage viewers to watch and share rather than interact, allowing them to quickly spread false information. Algorithms use these shares and likes to guess audiences’ preferences and push them towards a particular idea. This will likely create content based on confirmation bias, making people question whether it is fake or real. It can also spread unchecked images within a second, before they are fact-checked. With media as a social community and hub, sharing content related to AI by friends or family is now more believable than news shared by a media channel.
AI has affected the world of journalism severely, and the trust it has been gaining is being destroyed. Generative AI models creating highly realistic content at an unprecedented scale have made human fact-checking unsustainable.
The ecosystem of fake news and AI-generated content has stifled the reputation of journalism. Constant exposure to fake news can make people question even authentic news produced after meticulous labor. According to the Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2025, most viewers trust news with AI assisting journalists, from transcription to translation, more than news fully produced by AI. Only 40% across the 48 countries trust most news most of the time.
The challenge is no longer simply identifying what is fake but preserving trust in what is true. As AI makes convincing content easier to create, journalism cannot limit itself by only responding with stronger verification, transparency, and accountability. And, in a world where seeing is no longer necessarily believing, trustworthy journalism matters more than ever. If people refuse to believe true news and label it as AI-generated, then AI aid will do little to clear the cloud of confusion. Humans err, and only humans can rectify fallacies.
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