AI-generated headlines are increasingly common — but in a sea of misinformation, deepfakes, and entire articles written by ChatGPT, a particular brand of AI content has emerged: fake “feel good” news.
In June, a rumor about Kendrick Lamar and his partner, Whitney Alford, “quietly” paying off school lunch debt for 103 public schools went viral across Instagram, Facebook, and X.
Although the Grammy award-winning musician has a long history of donating to LA communities, the details of this latest story were not corroborated by any professional news sources.
Ultimately, it all traced back to a single AI-generated YouTube video, which had spurned a frenzied game of telephone across the internet.
Just a few months earlier, a story about Kansas City Chiefs football player Travis Kelce spread like wildfire, claiming that Kelce had donated a $3.3 mansion to Foster Love, a nonprofit that helps young adults navigating the foster care system find permanent housing.
When the news initially broke, the nonprofit that was at the center of the story believed it, too.
On March 2, Foster Love shared the news on their official Facebook page, writing: “It’s inspiring to see Travis Kelce use his platform to make a real difference for vulnerable youth.”
After the nonprofit had seemingly corroborated the story, many outlets — including our team at Good Good Good — fell for it.
As soon as the truth emerged, the article was updated with a retraction notice, as well as a direct statement from Kelce himself.
“I gotta make a little statement in the ‘don’t believe everything you read kids’ category or nice realm that you see online,” Kelce said in an episode of New Heights, the sports commentary podcast he co-hosts with brother and NFL star Jason Kelce.
“Some false claims were thrown out there that I was doing something in the community that I was not. And I’m not even going to talk about it specifically. I don’t want to bring any more attention to that whole nonsense and article and all that stuff.”
Kelce also took the opportunity to spread the word about his own nonprofit: Eighty-Seven & Running.
“We’re always trying to get out there and get in the Kansas City community and the Cleveland community, but this time I wasn’t doing what was falsely claimed by the social channels or the outlets posting all this AI stuff,” he explained. “Just want to set the record straight.”
As fake stories gain traction and flood the internet, they overshadow the real, factual good news that’s unfolding every day.
Stories like former NFL player Jordan Jenkins donating not one, but two houses to support homeless veterans in Columbus, Georgia.
Jenkins, a Georgia native, played college football for the Georgia Bulldogs. He went on to play for the New York Jets, Houston Texans, and Las Vegas Raiders before retiring from the NFL in 2022.
On August 22, Jenkins sang the praises of the Plummer Home, a nonprofit that combats veteran homelessness and offers transitional housing to local vets.
“Over the last 15 years, they’ve helped impact the lives of 708 veterans — and the number will continue to rise moving forward,” Jenkins said in a video that was shared across Instagram and TikTok.
“But for that, we need more people to come out and sort of put their money where their mouth is and really get involved and really just help these veterans out.”
That’s when Jenkins became acquainted with Greg Jordan, the CEO and Founder of the Plummer Home, in typical Georgia fashion: over a crawfish boil.
Hoping to see more, Jordan offered Jenkins a tour of their house, talking through new renovations like a laundry room full of washers and dryers donated by a local family.
“It’s through tasks like that they’re able to change the lives of veterans, and after hearing some of those stories, I was like, okay. Well, I know I always wanted to get involved and I know I always say I love veterans and I wanna give back.”
So, heeding his own advice, Jenkins “put his money where his mouth was” and looked for ways to help. He soon learned that the house next door to the Plummer Home was for sale.
“I was talking to Greg about, ‘What’s next? Where do they go after this?’” Jenkins said. He was told that the Plummer Home hoped to expand to a bigger facility someday, but they were operating on a limited budget.
“I said, well, let me get started, let me get involved,” he said. “And I bought the house next door.”
Then he learned that a second house on the same street was up for sale, and he purchased that residence as well.
“Now, in total, we’ve got four units that I’ll be dedicating towards the Plummer Home, just to help give veterans a sense of self again and really give them a little more privacy,” Jenkins said.
“And [also] help them get the rental history they might need to get the dream home that they really want.”
Jenkins said that cycles of homelessness continue because people don’t have access to the resources they deserve.
He wrapped the video by saying: “[I want to] give them a second chance and a helping hand.”
See Jenkins' full story:
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Header image via Erik Drost (CC BY 2.0) / Leah Applewhite
