Police ask kids to stop pulling an AI homeless man prank

The premise is simple enough: Kids use Snapchat’s AI tools to generate photos of a dirty man in their house and tell their parents they’re letting them in to use the bathroom, take a nap, or just drink water. They often say that a person claims to know his or her parents from work or college. Then, as expected, the parents lose their temper and demand that the man be expelled. The kids are, of course, recording the whole thing, and posting their parents’ reactions on TikTok, where some clips have surfaced Millions to Views.

Things turn from a problem to a potential danger when the prank goes on for too long and parents call the authorities. Police treat home invasion calls, especially those involving children, as a top priority, so pranks like this drain valuable resources and can put pranksters in danger. Andy McKinney, commander of the Round Rock Police Department, told NBC that this could “cause a response from the SWAT team.”

the Salem, MA Police Department He summed it up best in a statement that said: “This prank dehumanizes homeless people, causes panic in the distressed recipient and wastes police resources. The police officers who are called to respond do not know this is a prank and treat the call as an actual robbery in progress, creating a potentially dangerous situation.” So, while we all love a good joke, maybe we’ll leave this one behind.