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

3 days ago
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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.Sign up to The GuideGet our weekly pop culture email, free in your inbox every Fridayafter newsletter promotionIf you want to read the complete version of this newsletter please subscribe to receive The Guide in your inbox every Friday
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Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for glazed cinnamon focaccia | The sweet spot

If you’ve been anywhere near TikTok, you’re likely to have seen plenty of videos of sweet focaccia doing the rounds. I’m not normally one to jump on to viral trends, but I couldn’t resist trying this one. The dough is pretty easy, with no kneading or stand mixer required – just some stretching, folding and plenty of time to rest. You end up with something that tastes like a cinnamon bun/doughnut hybrid, that’s not too sweet and with a little more chew.Prep 5 min Prove 3 hr+ Cook 1 hr 15 min Serves 12-16For the dough450g bread flour 7g instant yeast 2 tbsp sugar 1 tsp fine sea salt 30ml olive oil, plus extra for greasingFor the cinnamon sugar3½ tsp cinnamon 50g caster sugar 50g unsalted butter, melted For the glaze3 tbsp icing sugar ¼ tsp cinnamon 2 tsp whole milk A pinch of saltPut the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer, and mix to combine

3 days ago
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Rustic no more: let’s drink to Sicilian wine

Now that the third season (OK, discourse treadmill) of The White Lotus is sinking into the horizon, and its many fans flock to Thailand in the hope of catching a whiff of Walton Goggins (who I’m in no doubt smells absolutely lovely), I’m grateful that Sicily, the location of season two, might finally be a little less busy. Not least because of its wines.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more

4 days ago
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Children injured, wildlife slaughtered, forests ravaged: is it time to ban disposable barbecues?

Single-use grills are ‘the worst form of litter’, says the boss of Keep Britain Tidy, whose own young son was badly burned by one left on a beach. They’re also a terrible way to cook. Should shops stop selling them?Toby Tyler can still hear his son William’s scream. “That will never, ever leave us,” he says, speaking on a video call from the family home in Stockport, Greater Manchester. “But we didn’t understand what had happened

4 days ago
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Rachel Roddy’s recipe for spaghetti with prawns, courgettes and gremolata | A kitchen in Rome

While tidying the freezer the other week, I found yet another reminder of my (late) friend and teacher Carla Tomasi in the form of a Tupperware box a bit larger than a matchbox. Unlike the rest of the unmarked boxes with identical sky-blue lids and opaque sides, I knew exactly what this was: a mix of parsley, garlic and lemon zest (otherwise known as gremolata or gremolada) made last June to go with braised chicken, but not finished, so the leftovers were put in the freezer. I exchanged messages with Carla all the time and, knowing how much she loved freezer-talk, I consulted her as to how long she thought the mix would keep in there. She gave two replies: an official one of three to six months, and an unofficial one of a year, which must have sunk into my unconscious like a preset alarm because, almost a year later (and 10 months since she passed away), I find myself in front of my chaotic freezer, holding a tub of finely minced things and thinking, “There you are!” and, “Thanks, Carla!”Gremolata is a typically Milanese mix, and the name means to reduce into grains. And that is precisely what you do to a clove of garlic, a handful of parsley and the zest of a large unwaxed lemon in order to make a fine and fragrant rubble, which can be made by hand or in a food processor

4 days ago
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Tell us: will you continue to buy takeaway coffee as prices rise?

Australians take coffee seriously, so much so that we perfected it through the humble flat white (although New Zealanders may beg to differ). But local coffee culture, admired around the world, may be under threat.A perfect storm of increased wholesale coffee bean prices, supply chain issues and other rising overheads are driving up the price of cafe coffee.One industry figure suggested takeaway coffee prices could reach $10 by the end of the year, though others say increases this steep are highly unlikely. Meanwhile Breville recorded a lift in at-home coffee machine sales earlier this year

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How to turn aquafaba into a delectable vegan chocolate mousse – recipe | Waste not

I love the simplicity of today’s dish. Just two ingredients – chocolate and aquafaba – come together to create a waste-saving treat. Bean water has a mild savoury taste, but the dominant flavour here is chocolate, which, without the addition of extra fat (usually in the form of cream), becomes incredibly intense, amplifying its sheer chocolatiness.Aquafaba has magical properties that mean it behaves like egg whites when whisked, creating an airy foam that can be used for everything from mayonnaise to mousse. According to Ada McVean in an article asking What is Aquafaba? for McGill University in Montreal, the water-soluble proteins and sugars in the beans leak into the water during cooking, giving it a similar composition to egg whites; it also contain saponins, which help it foam so well

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