Thousands of people took to the streets in Dublin to attend the Halloween parade that never came. . Why did they do such a thing? This was all thanks to an AI-generated ad promoting a fake event.
The My Spirit Halloween website has advertised a completely fictitious Macnas Halloween Parade due to take place on the streets of Dublin between 7pm and 9pm. News of the parade spread quickly on the Internet and even received a news rating on Google.
So yes, thousands of people donned their Halloween costumes and stood on the street for hours waiting for something that never happened. They even left space on the street for the parade to pass. It’s thoughtful, but also a little sad.
The situation prompted Ireland’s police force to issue a message urging marchers to “disperse safely”. A spokesperson for the organization said that “contrary to reports online, there will be no Halloween parades in Dublin city center this evening or tonight”.
Please note that contrary to reports online, there will not be any Halloween parades in Dublin City Center this evening or tonight.
All those gathered on O’Connell Street in anticipation of such a parade are asked to disperse safely.
thank you pic.twitter.com/KmVFPKEZbP
— An Garda Síochána (@GardaTraffic) October 31, 2024
Local councilor Janice Boylan said she was disappointed by the whole situation: “Everyone is trying to have a fun and safe Halloween. It sounded really good to have a parade to go to,” he said. “I know a lot of people came. It’s a terrible shame.”
The My Spirit Halloween list has been taken down, but the question remains as to why it appeared in the first place. It should be noted that this is a separate entity from popular seasonal retailer Spirit Halloween.
The It comes from Pakistan and posts all kinds of AI generated content like ads which is causing all this problem, . This particular post was picked up by TikTok and Google and led to the rapid spread of literal, fake news.
That’s pretty wild, isn’t it? An AI-generated post in Pakistan caused thousands of actual people to take to the streets halfway around the world. What the hell is that again? Yes. “May you live in interesting times.”
