I have a conspiracy theory… I can’t be the only one who’s noticed it

For the last month or so I've noticed an influx of AI generated images on Facebook, claiming to be anything from someone's art, to a selfie or portrait of someone in the military. On each of these posts, they explain what the AI generated image shows, and then ask for a like or appreciation.

Now that I've explained the foundation, these posts receive hundreds and up to 10ks reacts, majority of which are the 'like,' 'heart,' and 'care reacts. In the comment section, you'll see tons of old people praising and complimenting, to even thanking these AI images for their service. It's absolutely wild. I want to add that these images are very obviously AI generated, anyone with half a brain can tell that they're fake.

But they're getting better. Genuinely better. Not to the point I'm falling for it, but if these old people fell for it before, who knows the new bracket it's gonna claim.

(I have a lot of images to show that I will put at the bottom of this.)

My theory is this; I don't know who, whether it's our own, or foreign, is doing this but I think there's a reason. To figure out at which point AI becomes unrecognizable to the general public. Not just boomers, but to us millennials/gen z/gen alpha. It's going to be used to manipulate masses more than ever before.

When I look at the comments, these people are all the same age group with suspicious profiles. It's strange, but they have like 40 photos of family for years and years back. Maybe hacked accounts and used to bot? They ever respond to people telling them it's AI.

Then you have those people. The people commenting some random picture made in paint that says "THIS IMAGE IS AI GENERATED, IT IS NOT REAL!" They also have suspicious profiles, similar to the ones they're trying to divert from interacting with the post? It's all so very strange.

The issue I have is figuring out whether those people are real, or some are real, and the others are bots boosting the algorithm and getting more views to reach more people? The worst part is, what I have here is just from TODAY. Not including the ones I’ve seen prior. Will add more as I see them!

Fingers crossed somebody else has seen this or thought it was strange. I’d love to hear what you guys have to say. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas y’all!