AI-generated ads using Taylor Swift's likeness dupe fans with fake Le Creuset giveaway

AI-generated video spots featuring the likeness of Taylor Swift endorsing a fake Le Creuset cookware giveaway have duped some fans into buying into the scam, the New York Times reported. 

While Swift may be a fan of Le Creuset, she has no official marketing ties to the company. But ads permeating Facebook and other social media platforms would have you think otherwise. 

The woman seen in the faux promotional video is neither Swift, nor even a real person. Instead, artificial intelligence has been used to replicate the singer's true voice and appearance to create what's known as "deepfake," a deceptively convincing replication of a real person. Scammers create this type of synthetic content with machine learning software to create fake footage using authentic video and audio clips of public figures, which are abundant and easy to come by.