PHOTO Buckingham Palace Christmas Market, an AI hoax. Several tourists in London fell victim to the hoax
Tourists in front of Buckingham Palace, come to witness the inauguration of the non-existent Christmas market Photo: Niklas HALLE'N / AFP / Profimedia
When Brygida, a Polish tourist, arrived at Buckingham Palace on Friday, she expected to see a traditional Christmas market, but she, like other tourists, was deceived by a fake advertisement illustrated with an image generated by artificial intelligence, reports AFP, taken by Agerpres.
“I came here because I thought it was true,” explained the 25-year-old woman. “I thought I was lucky” to be able to see the first Christmas market outside London's royal residence, “and we were very sad when we realized there was nothing.”
Several messages published online and circulated around the world in several languages, including Thai, Portuguese, Arabic and Armenian, promised “the experience of a unique royal Christmas”.
In reality, the photo illustrating this fake event was an AI-generated image of a Christmas market – featuring small wooden cabins and festive lights.
“I saw it on Instagram and TikTok. It was saying there was going to be a Christmas market for the first time at Buckingham Palace,” Emma Paxton, a 26-year-old engineer from Boston, United States, also reported.
Lucas, a Frenchman living in London, says that he “heard a lot of talk about it” among his friends living abroad about this so-called fair. “Now I understand it's done with AI,” he said.
Several netizens posted videos online to denounce the scam, especially travel blogs like Love and London.
The AI-generated image began circulating in September after the Royal Collection Trust (RCT), which organizes visits to Buckingham Palace, hinted at the opening of a small Christmas shop at the palace. RCT published an advertisement on its website stating that this store is not “a Christmas market” and that “there will be no Christmas market at Buckingham Palace”.
On Friday, posters near the palace pointed in the direction of this Christmas shop, which sells souvenirs such as chocolates and tea boxes with the royal family's effigy.
