William Shatner is sending a warning to his fans not to believe everything they read.
Shatner, 95, took to social media on Thursday, April 2, sharing a series of screenshots of AI-generated reports making false claims about his health.
“I wanted to put this out yesterday but given the day and the possibility that it would look like a joke I waited for today,” he captioned his post. “There is a page on Facebook that is using AI to create horrible fake news stories about me.”
The Star Trek alum continued, “They have created stories that say I have stage 4 brain cancer, was in some kind of fight with Erika Kirk and that I’m dying. All their stories are monetized. Most of the stories use an AI image of me.”
According to Shatner, Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has been unhelpful in getting the fake stories taken down.
“None of these stories are true but they apparently seem genuine enough for fans to repost them across social media and send messages of support to me and my family all while the culprits behind the account make money,” he added. “This is the downside of AI and yellow journalism. While [AI] can be a wonderful tool in the right hands; it can be used as a weapon in the wrong hands.”
“The people who are ill are those that are spreading these ridiculous stories,” he wrote. “I’m fit as a fiddle. You don’t have to worry. This is getting insane.”