What a viral fake video of Ghislaine Maxwell in Quebec City says about AI deception

A video purporting to show Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein, out for a stroll in Quebec City has gained millions of views since it was posted last week. 

It’s fake.

The original poster, a 19-year-old from Quebec City, told CBC News as much and added — albeit retroactively — disclaimer labels flagging the use of AI.

In a message to CBC News, the poster said they used a website to do the face swap, which is the act of digitally transplanting someone’s face onto another person’s body. The poster said the process was fairly simple. They refused to share their name, saying they have received multiple threats since the video went up.

Despite the AI labels, fresh comments are still pouring in from users demanding to see the original footage to debunk the theory that Maxwell is, in fact, not sitting in a Texas prison serving a 20-year sentence for helping Epstein sexually abuse underage girls. 

For Concordia University professor Florent Michelot, the video’s virality and the conspiracy theories it spawned are not surprising at all. 

“Conspiracy theories are very easy to understand,” he said, likening them to “fast-food for the brain.”

Seen frame-by-frame, a viewer can see the moment the filter activates and also pick up on the mismatch between the high resolution of “Maxwell’s” face and the blurriness of the surrounding image.

The video shows a woman in a blue coat, speaking with a man outside Snack Québ on St. Jean Street. When she faces the cameraperson, a filter activates to make her look like Maxwell.

Maxwell is currently a registered inmate at Federal Prison Camp Bryan and will be eligible for release in 2037. She also appeared at a U.S. congressional hearing earlier this month.

The Quebec City video has been shared thousands of times, including by Russian state-owned media outlet RT on its X account, saying it shows “a woman in Quebec looking STRIKINGLY similar to Ghislaine Maxwell.”

But the viral “sighting” isn’t proof of anything.

In an Instagram story uploaded over the weekend, the video's poster explained that their intent "was never to spread misinformation but to make satire content."

Their page is full of similar deepfakes including representations of Epstein, Premier François Legault, Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu.