SCAM ALERT: Beware of Bogus Facebook Pages Claiming to Offer Free Downloads of Google's AI Model!
Since Google announced its own language model AI called "Bard" in February, it has garnered worldwide attention, as Google is one of the biggest tech companies with vast data resources. And recently, we found various Facebook pages, claiming to be official pages of Google and promoting posts with malicious links, claiming to be the new model of […]
Since Google announced its own language model AI called "Bard" in February, it has garnered worldwide attention, as Google is one of the biggest tech companies with vast data resources. And recently, we found various Facebook pages, claiming to be official pages of Google and promoting posts with malicious links, claiming to be the new model of ‘Bard’ that users can download for free.
Factcresendo Team found these claims to be false; hence advise users to be weary of such malicious links by third parties which are not related to Google Inc.
Let’s look at the viral claims first.
Social Media posts
A Facebook page called "𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐥𝐞 AI" claims that Google has released a new AI model that can be downloaded from the accompanying link.
Source | Archive Source | Archive
Fact-Check
We began the investigation by checking the claiming Facebook profile and found that the page name had been changed several times before changing to "Google AI" on 28th June.
We then compared this page with Google's verified Facebook page. The "Page Transparency" section clearly states that Google Inc. manages the page and was initially created as Google.
The same applies to other services that Google provides, such as Google Play, which are verified and labelled as "Google Inc. is responsible for this Page."
Moreover, the content of the post claims that users can download the new model of Bard for free. However, Google has not released any such model for free download. This is a clear indication that the post is fake and misleading.
Furthermore, we clicked on the link attached to the post, and it instantly showed that it contained harmful programs. This can also indicate that Google does not verify the program and may be dangerous for your device.
Besides, it is noteworthy that the previous posts found on this page have no connection to Google whatsoever. They appear to be random live clips and news reports in Filipino, which have no relevance or correlation to the tech giant. Therefore, we can conclude that this page is fraudulent and aims to deceive users by claiming that it is affiliated with Google. Archive Archive
Like ChatGPT, Bard is a chatbot accessible directly on the website (https://bard.google.com/) without any need for installation, and Google Inc. has enabled Google Workspace users to try out Brad at the current experimental stage.
Here's more about Brad, Google's experimental, conversational AI chat service, which is designed to function similarly to ChatGPT, with the biggest difference being that Brad would pull its information from the web.
Summary
Facebook posts claiming that Google’s new AI model of ‘Bard’ can be downloaded for free are scams. The pages behind such posts have undergone several name changes and are not associated with Google Inc. Google has not yet released any such AI model as a free download. We advise users to refrain from clicking on links attached to these posts as they may contain harmful malware.
Title:SCAM ALERT: Beware of Bogus Facebook Pages Claiming to Offer Free Downloads of Google's AI Model!
Written By: Fact Crescendo TeamResult: False
