Cheap Tesla motorhome outed as fake news

Have you seen the online video and posts about the new Tesla motorhome being offered by Elon Musk for US$17,000?

Well, it's definitely an AI-generated fake if you hadn't already realised, according to the latest deep-dive 'fact check' from independent newswire service Australian Associated Press.

In a latest article on the AAP FactCheck site titled 'AI videos of Tesla motorhome clearly fake because it doesn't exist', author Matthew Elmas reports that "artificial intelligence-generated content is being used in dozens of social media videos that falsely claim Tesla has built an electric motorhome with a $17,000 price tag. The US electric car company, however, is selling no such vehicle." 

"Footage purporting to show it is fake or uses images of vehicles from other manufacturers, while a clip of Mr Musk talking has been taken out of context and inserted into the videos," Elmas continues. 

"The false claims have racked up millions of views across social media recently, purportedly showing imagery or videos of a Tesla motorhome." 

With the aid of images labelled 'original', 'fake' and 'AI generated' as examples, the AAP journo then goes on to explain why the 'fake news' comes across as so convincing, and how you can tell it's not real.

"Some posts include an altered image depicting Mr Musk holding up a pair of keys with the attached tag '$16,999'."

"Other posts contain lengthy, detailed videos about what the purported motorhome offers, including clips of Mr Musk speaking to audiences," he writes.

"A Facebook video begins with claims Tesla is developing an electric van, which was actually teased by Mr Musk in the October 2024 "We, Robot" event as part of its autonomous taxi program. 

"However, the voiceover then goes on to claim Tesla is venturing into the 'world of affordable, eco-friendly living on wheels' with a '$17,000 motorhome' before cutting to a 2019 clip of Mr Musk speaking.

"'We try to create something new and it's not just basically a copy of the form factor of everything else, but you still want it to be great - it's very hard,' Mr Musk says in the video."

Elmas then goes on to say that "his comments were actually in reference to the development of a pick-up truck, not a motorhome, remarks he made at Tesla's 2019 shareholders' meeting.

"The video displays an image of the purported motorhome, which is actually a graphic posted on X in 2022 about how a converted Tesla semi-trailer could theoretically look. 

"Using reverse image search, several of the pictures of supposed Tesla motorhome models can be traced back to AI-generated images posted on X.

"There are also signs of AI, such as distorted faces (timestamp four minutes 11 seconds) and house roof tiles (4:17). 

"In one of the images, the vehicle doesn't appear to have a driver's seat (5:06), while footage of the supposed interior (6:32) appears to have been generated from online stock images.

"Also noticeable is the absence of windscreen wipers on many of the supposed Tesla model motorhomes, plus the fact that multiple clips and footage of older-style motorhome models from different manufacturers are interspersed with the AI imagery."

Why go to all that trouble in the first place? Well, according to the experts AI is increasingly being used on social media to generate engagement that can be monetised.

"There are more and more cases when AI is applied not only for creating possibilities for content to be more actively engaged by human users but also for manipulating the engagement metrics directly," Mykola Makhortykh, a lead researcher in algorithms and AI at the University of Bern, told AAP FactCheck.

Dr Makhortykh said content designed for "engagement farming" is spreading more quickly on social media, and he predicts the activity will ramp up in the near future. 

"While some uses of AI can be relatively easy to notice, others may be difficult to identify reliably," he is quoted as saying.

"As the range of AI tools grows quickly, he added, so too does the accessibility of these tools."

For more on spotting AI-generated fakes, visit the AAP FactCheck website or watch the video below...