Melih Gökçek surprises again: Mistakes AI-generated video for reality

A video produced with artificial intelligence technology, which gave the impression of being filmed in a schoolyard, recently became a trending topic on social media. The footage showed characters appearing to be students performing a choreography to celebrate the month of Ramadan. However, the truth, which emerged shortly after, revealed that the video was entirely created by artificial intelligence.

Melih Gökçek, who mistook the video in question for reality, congratulated the young people on his social media account, saying, "You are magnificent, young people," and added the note, "I kiss your foreheads." This development, in which Gökçek congratulated people who do not exist, caused a great stir among social media users.

Following this incident, many social media users made ironic comments, recalling that Gökçek had fallen into similar traps before.

THIS IS NOT GÖKÇEK'S FIRST INCIDENT

It is known that Melih Gökçek has taken various unrealistic claims seriously in the past. During a television program he attended, he mistook a social media post claiming that a 6 billion dollar jelly bean mine had been discovered in Adıyaman for real and evaluated it. Gökçek had stated on live television that he would investigate the claim that "6 billion dollars worth of jelly beans were found underground." His response of "No, it's not fake. It's official. They are being found one after another" to the host's question, "Could it be fake, Mr. Mayor?" was talked about for a long time.

Gökçek also mistook a video taken from the US-made computer game Medal of Honor for a real military operation under the title "Claw-Eagle Operation" and shared it on his social media account with the words, "Mashallah... The seeker finds what they deserve... I hope Greece learns a lesson."

He also mistook a video prepared ironically by social media influencer Onur Babacan, titled "I entered the bridge as an atheist, I came out a Muslim," for real and left the following note: "In today's storm. In Istanbul, he entered the bridge as an atheist and came out as a Muslim... How happy... May the Lord make you a devout Muslim, God willing... You must watch it... RT..." This humorous video even became a subject of television debates for a while.

Previously, Gökçek, who mistook a temporary error in Google's dollar exchange rate data that showed it as 24 TL for the real value, had made a post in a witty tone: "The final state of those who bought dollars at 29 and are panicking to research the news that the dollar has fallen to 24 TL..."