DENVER — A video about a vulgar murder in Littleton, Colorado went viral on YouTube. As of Monday, the 25-minute clip has almost two million views.
The catch is - the "true crime" documentary isn't about a real crime. The entire film appears to have been made using artificial intelligence, or AI.
True Crime Case Files brands itself on YouTube as a go-to spot for true crime content. The concept caught on quickly. Since December 2023, the channel has grown to more than 85,000 subscribers.
There were 200,000 views about a jealous husband in Fort Collins who killed his wife in 2019. The story caught the attention of the county's top prosecutor because the tale is entirely false.
"Where in the world did this come from?" asked District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin. "Definitely not a real case. Not based on a real case. Not remotely similar to any real cases. Totally pulled out of thin air."
The video is among more than a hundred others on the channel that appear to be made using AI. A program created 25-minute films that used the same few still images and a narrator to tell the story. Below the videos are hundreds of comments from people who are convinced the stories are true.
"If people start distrusting reports of crimes that might mean people start distrusting real victims of crimes," McLaughlin said.
He's worried about how fake crimes could impact real ones.
"Anything that is spread this widely and then people find out they have been duped and it's not real that sows distrust on the entire system," he said.
In a courtroom, his job is to convince a jury the evidence proves someone is guilty of a crime without a doubt. What if people start questioning the pictures and videos they see?
"AI changing photos, creating old photos and videos out of thin air, that can really impact our ability to have a jury trust us," McLaughlin said.
Another video got almost two million views about a murder in Littleton. The police department said the case was made up.
Fake stories like this are being posted almost every single day.
"That is something at a scale that means it can just scam more people and trick more people," McLaughlin said.