As AI advances, it’s becoming more and more difficult to discern authentic pictures and video from machine-generated content. Sadly, there’s a story developing beneath the streets of Los Angeles that’s serving as a textbook example of just that: This image of Fred Flintstone chasing Ariana Grande through a sewer is 100% real, but everyone thinks AI made it.
This is so, so sad…Ariana, we are praying for you!!! Someone help her!!!
When TMZ published this photo of Ariana Grande sprinting for her life through a wet, dark sewer pipe, internet readers swiftly called out the two-dimensional Fred Flintstone in fast pursuit behind her as clear evidence that the image was AI-generated—but unfortunately for Ariana, this paparazzi photo, taken at 3 a.m. last night in the sewer network under the Hollywood Hills, is 100% real and completely untouched. As far as sources close to Grande are aware, Fred Flintstone is still chasing her right now, if he hasn’t caught up to her already.
No one can blame Ariana’s fanbase for feeling skeptical about the picture’s authenticity, given that Ariana is generally unlikely to spend time in the sewer, and also that Fred Flintstone had until now been universally presumed to be a fictional character from an animated 1960s TV show, not a 6’5” living cartoon who is startlingly fast on his feet. However, the fact of the matter is that this photo is very, very real, and the relentless foot chase taking place through LA’s 6,700-mile sewer system does not bode well for the pop singer.
Now TMZ is facing an uphill battle in proving to authorities and the public that this photo is indeed horrifying proof that Fred Flintstone is tearing after Ariana through city storm drains. Though there have been a number of reports on the Citizen app of a voice shouting “Yabba-dabbo-doo!” and “I left Wilma so we could be together!” emanating from manholes around Los Angeles, it appears that the Internet remains convinced that this yet another silly AI image from some ironic jokester messing with Dall-E 3 or ChatGPT.
Ugh. If AI is already causing this level of reality-distortion already, our future is truly, truly bleak. May God help Ariana Grande escape from Fred Flintstone, because no one else is stepping up!!!
