The Guide #193: Meet Ernesto, the viral America's Got Talent contestant … who doesn't exist

The Guardian

3 days ago

Have you heard Ernesto's story? It's a real tearjerker. You may well be familiar with it, in fact, having caught it on YouTube, TikTok or Instagram at some point over the last few weeks.
A hard-working carpenter, Ernesto devoted every ounce of himself to his wife and child, skipping meals and working overtime to provide for them and send his son through college. But things changed: said wife and child grew distant and walked out on poor old Ernesto, who lost his house and sense of purpose, eventually ending up on the streets.
The one thing Ernesto did have left? His beautiful baritone singing voice, of course. Somehow the 54-year-old found his way on to the America's Got Talent stage, to perform not for fame and fortune but in the hope that his wife and child might hear him and remember that he never stopped loving them. Suddenly misty in here, isn't it? If you're welling up, you aren't alone – Ernesto's sad tale and stirring performance of his song Still Waiting at the Door certainly reduced the America's Got Talent judges to tears: Simon Cowell, Sofía Vergara, Nick Grimshaw and … wait, Nick Grimshaw?
Grimmy's apocryphal presence on the AGT judging panel – he's never been on it in reality, given that, with respect, he's a British radio host unknown to most Americans – is the first clue that there might be something fishy going on here, as are the appearances of fellow non-AGT judges David Walliams, Amanda Holden, Cheryl Tweedy, and an Ant-less Dec sobbing side-stage. There's the strange, out-of-sync reactions from gawping audience members. And then there's Ernesto himself with his fuzzy outline, jerky movements, and suspiciously smooth skin texture – all telltale signs of fakery, as anyone who read an earlier Guide on deepfake scams will know.
Yep, this heart-rending story of a lonely carpenter is AI fakery. It was created by YouTube account AGTverseai, which specialises in splicing together videos from various UK and US talent shows to react to AI-generated performances of songs that might be AI, or AI-assisted, too. 'Some visuals and audio have been altered or enhanced using AI tools', a disclaimer in the video description reads. 'The scenarios presented are fictional and intended solely for entertainment or illustrative purposes. This is not real footage and should not be interpreted as fact.'
If Ernesto's performance not being 'real footage' seemed insultingly obvious to you, you may well be in the minority. The YouTube comments for the video are, in the vast majority, credulous and approving. In fairness, plenty of the accounts posting those comments could be fake themselves: YouTube comment threads, like everywhere else online, are susceptible to bots.
Still, there are enough seemingly authentic commenters praising Ernesto's performance, and likening it to their own experiences of loss, to suggest this isn't wholly artificial. The video has been played 24m times over its two 'official' YouTube videos, and a post of it on TikTok has a further 30m views – and that doesn't factor in the many, many other accounts that have reposted and disseminated it on various social media platforms. Search for the song title Still Waiting at the Door on Instagram or TikTok and you will be greeted by a wall of Ernestos warbling away (sorry for ruining your algorithm, by the way). The video has received a debunking from factchecking site Snopes, usually a clear sign that a fabrication has travelled far and wide.
What's really interesting though is that there are plenty in the comments and elsewhere online who know the video isn't real – and still love it regardless. ('I never thought AI would bring such emotion,' one bandana'd YouTuber gasped.) We hear plenty about AI's depredations – its replicating, flattening and hollowing out of popular culture, the sea of AI slop – and perhaps assume that an ethical and aesthetic aversion to it is universal. But what if, per a Times piece this week looking at the popularity of AI personal essays, poetry and therapy, some people actually prefer the artificial? Why watch an actual TV talent show, whose contestant's backstories might not match the emotion and drama of their performance, when you could watch an artificially enhanced performance instead?
Already there are dozen or so on the AGTverseai channel, full of overly ripe, sob-inducing tales: an ex-con singing about finding God in prison; a woman with 'a cancer' finding solace in song; a 95-year-old second world war veteran paying tribute for his fallen comrade. They're preposterous, gratuitous and pretty obviously fake – but maybe that doesn't matter if they give you the feels.
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