{"id":295119,"date":"2025-11-19T15:47:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T15:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/295119\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T15:47:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T15:47:07","slug":"buckingham-palace-christmas-market-why-tourists-flocked-there-and-found-just-locked-gates-and-big-puddles-artificial-intelligence-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/295119\/","title":{"rendered":"Buckingham Palace Christmas market: why tourists flocked there \u2013 and found just locked gates and big puddles | Artificial intelligence (AI)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Name: Buckingham Palace Christmas<\/a> market.<\/p>\n

Age: Brand new this year.<\/p>\n

Appearance: Fantastical.<\/p>\n

Really? A Christmas market? At Buckingham Palace? Yes: broad paths lined with wooden huts, festooned with lights and Christmas trees, \u201ca beautiful winter wonderland atmosphere\u201d \u2013 all within the forecourt of the royal palace.<\/p>\n

It sounds almost too good to be true. Does it? But look at the picture!<\/p>\n

I am. Where are all those lights hanging from? They\u2019re just floating. It\u2019s part of the magic.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s snow on the ground. When was this photograph taken? Don\u2019t worry about that \u2013 come see for yourself. There are plentiful trains to London, and they\u2019re all free!<\/p>\n

Wait \u2013 is this a hoax? It bears some of the hallmarks of a hoax, yes.<\/p>\n

Such as? Fake AI-generated pics of a Christmas market at Buckingham Palace plastered all over TikTok, Facebook and Instagram.<\/p>\n

To what end? It\u2019s a mystery. More than one account has posted a variety of these AI fakes, with no apparent intent.<\/p>\n

Other than disappointing Yuletide-loving royalists? It has certainly done that. Lots of visitors have reported turning up to find nothing but locked gates, security fencing and puddles.<\/p>\n

So there\u2019s no truth to it? There is a festive pop-up in the Royal Mews gift shop round the corner from the palace gates, with royal-themed Christmas gifts and a single hut selling hot drinks out back.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not the same thing. So the Royal Collection Trust has been obliged to clarify. \u201cThere will not be a Christmas market at Buckingham Palace,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n

Is this kind of AI hoaxing common these days? I\u2019m afraid it is. In July, it was reported<\/a> that elderly tourists were being lured to Perak in Malaysia by video of a cable car ride that doesn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s unbelievable. And tour company Amsterdam Experiences is reporting an increase in customers requesting trips to unreal Dutch locations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The windmills of their minds? Windmills situated alongside picturesque canals and tulip fields they have only seen in AI-generated images.<\/p>\n

When will people learn? Not soon, it seems. Tourists who use AI services to plan their travels can find themselves stranded on remote mountaintops in Japan, or looking for an Eiffel Tower in Beijing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not normally one to make snap judgments, but if you use AI to plan your holiday, you\u2019re pretty misguided. Maybe, but apparently 30% of international travellers do this now.<\/p>\n

Do say: \u201cNever travel anywhere without first verifying that that place actually exists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t say: \u201cI\u2019m looking for the front gates to Jurassic Park. Is it behind the carpet warehouse, or what?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Name: Buckingham Palace Christmas market. Age: Brand new this year. Appearance: Fantastical. Really? A Christmas market? At Buckingham…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-295119","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}