It is the ultra-realistic tech sweeping social media – with ‘paparazzi’ pictures of celebrities often believed to be genuine.

Many people are shocked, and a little disturbed, to find out that images they think are real have in fact been made by a computer.

AI-generated images have exploded in recent months, whether it be celebrities reimagined as pensioners or entire exhibitions dedicated to computer-made artwork – much to the fury of human artists. 

But can you spot the difference between what’s real and what’s fake?

Take MailOnline’s quiz to see if you can tell which pictures are genuine and which are AI-generated… 

1. Donald Trump arrested 

2. Elon Musk dating rival motor company CEO

3. Supermodel Bella Hadid becomes a bald robot  

4.  Pope Francis opts for oversized puffer jacket

5. Britney Spears ‘s floating necklace  

6. Tom Cruise and his stunt doubles 

7. Rita Ora’s reptile face 

8. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg walks the runway 

9. Billionaire Elon Musk as a toddler

10. Former President Donald Trump’s mugshot 

Answers 

Which ones did you get right? 

1. This picture is fake! An AI-generated image of Donald Trump trying to run away while being arrested by police was posted on Twitter in March with the caption: ‘Making pictures of Trump getting arrested while waiting for Trump’s arrest.’

2. This picture is fake! This image of Tesla CEO Elon Musk walking hand in hand with Mary Barra, the CEO of rival car company General Motors, was generated by AI. After the image was posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, as a ‘breaking’ story, Musk replied saying he would ‘never wear that outfit’.

3. This picture is real! Supermodel Bella Hadid was transformed into a bald robot for a futuristic fashion campaign for designer Marc Jacobs. In this picture, Hadid poses nude and bald, wearing only a sculptural silver ear cuff with metal piping snaked around her. The fashion firm’s Heaven by Marc Jacobs Fall ’23 campaign was shot by Carlijn Jacobs and styled by Danielle Emerson.

4. This picture is fake! An image of Pope Francis donning a white puffer jacket instead of the usual robe circulated on social media, but though many people believed it to be real, it was in fact AI-generated. The viral image was created by Pablo Xavier, a 31-year-old man from Chicago, using Midjourney – an artificial intelligence image generator. 

5. This picture is real! After posting a picture of herself, Britney Spears and Cade Hudson on Instagram, Paris Hilton had to refute theories that the image was fake. Fans were convinced of this as Britney’s necklace appeared to be floating with only one chain. In a follow-up comment ‘to all of those asking’, Paris said the picture was taken on iPhone making it look blurry and then edited on an app called Remini to correct that, but that sometimes the AI ‘distorts the images’. ‘Didn’t want to even dignify this with a response,’ she added. ‘But some of these conspiracy theories are absolutely ridiculous.’

6. This picture is fake! Despite being known for playing characters which carry out daring acts in action movies, this picture of Tom Cruise and his stunt doubles is an AI-generated image. Cruise does all of his own stunts.

7. This picture is real! Walking the red carpet for the 2022 British Fashion Awards, singer Rita Ora sported striking reptilian facial prosthetics that closely mirrored her skin tone, as well as bleached eyebrows.

8. This picture is fake! Many were surprised to see that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had made the move to catwalk modelling, but an image circulating on social media of the tech boss walking a runway kitted out in a glittery pink outfit was in fact AI-generated, using Midjourney image generator.

9. This picture is fake! An image of Elon Musk as a toddler wearing brown overalls made waves on social media but rather than being from the billionaire’s family archives, it was in fact AI-generated. The picture was captioned ‘Elon Musk was reportedly working on some anti-aging formula, but it got way out of hand’ which warranted a reply from Musk himself saying ‘Guys, I think I maybe took too much’.

10. This picture is real! Much to the shock of many on social media, the mugshot of Donald Trump released by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office on August 24 was actually real. Trump was photographed for the police mugshot after his arrest.

Online scammers are using platforms such as TikTok to sell dangerous fake weight-loss drugs to desperate diabetes patients hit by a medication shortage, as England’s prescription watchdog faces further pressure to approve a breakthrough jab.

In trials, a third of type 2 diabetics on the new drug, tirzepatide, shed more than 20 per cent of their body weight after just over a year and saw their blood sugars brought in check. The average person with obesity weighing 16.5 st (105 kg) lost 50 lb (23 kg) in 17 months.

This makes the treatment twice as effective as semaglutide, the injection currently approved for NHS use for type 2 diabetes and, since March, for weight loss alone.

Now an investigation has shown how social media accounts are offering to sell tirzepatide to UK patients, as well as licenced UK medicines, to those struggling to maintain their supply of weight-loss medication. Accounts offered reporters 10mg for as little as £100.

But experts have warned there is no way for patients to ensure what they are buying is the genuine drug. Instead, it could be fake or contain other dangerous chemicals unknown to the user. 

Tirzepatide suppress the appetite, leading to weight loss, and boost the production of insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar – both of which are vital to control type 2 diabetes.

When early results from tirzepatide studies were announced at a medical conference in 2018, Dallas-based diabetes expert Dr Julio Rosenstock said he’d nicknamed semaglutide, sold under brand name Ozempic, as ‘the gorilla’ because it had been the most potent drug of its kind until then. ‘But tirzepatide is really King Kong,’ he added.

The new drug has already been rubber-stamped by US health chiefs. But in June the UK’s prescribing watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said it needed ‘more evidence’ before it would give the drug, also known by brand name Mounjaro, the green light for NHS use.

The decision shocked specialists in diabetes and obesity treatment who agree the treatment, given in weekly self-injections, is highly effective and the side effects are minimal.

In addition, sky-high demand for semaglutide has led to world-wide shortages of the drug, meaning diabetics who have relied on it for years are unable to get hold of it – and experts said having another option to prescribe will help ease this pressure.

The NICE approval committee reconvened at the start of August and will shortly announce an updated decision. NHS England’s diabetes adviser, Professor Partha Kar, who attended the meeting, said he felt tirzepatide should now be given the green light.

‘We have massive stock problems with semaglutide so I feel there is a need for tirzepatide to become available,’ he said. ‘Clinically, in type 2 diabetes, the data looks really strong. In head-to-head trials with semaglutide, it comes out better.

‘I wasn’t at the first committee meeting but the decision not to approve it surprised me. That’s why I went [in August]. The question will be whether it is cost effective and NICE will have to work with [tirzepatide manufacturer] Eli Lilly to agree a price. We are hoping for a positive result this time.’

Last month, pharmaceutical industry insiders spoke to The Mail on Sunday about their fears that some patients, unable to get their usual medication, might resort to buying it from unlicensed online sources and unwittingly end up purchasing counterfeit products.

Fake semaglutide has been seized by regulators in Australia, Ireland, Nigeria, Turkey and the US. In July, the Swiss medicines regulator warned against buying drugs from unreliable sources after several people were admitted to hospital after using bogus weight-loss drugs. In one case, the injector pen packaged as Ozempic had contained powerful insulin medication – if just a little too much is injected, it can be fatal.

However our Government’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has recorded just one incident of counterfeit semaglutide, in May.

Now, a Mail on Sunday investigation has uncovered accounts on the social media app TikTok claiming to be selling tirzepatide in the UK. One directs users to a website where the drug is on sale for between £160 and £350.

It instructs customers to pay via bank transfer or with cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin – a form of digital money. At no point is a prescription mentioned.

Another account simply gives a mobile number and tells users to get in touch via message app Whatsapp. Our reporter did so and was told tirzepatide would be sent in unlabelled vials for ‘around £100 for 10 mg’. All we had to do was say how much we wanted and we’d be given ‘a payment link’.

These, and a number of other TikTok accounts, also sold semaglutide and other weight-loss drugs.

An MHRA spokesman said: ‘The MHRA Criminal Enforcement Unit works to identify those unlawfully trading in medicines and we will use our powers to take enforcement action, including prosecuting those who put your health at risk.

‘Buying any medicinal product from illegally trading online suppliers significantly increases the risk of getting a product which is either falsified or not licensed for use in the UK. Taking such medicines may put your health at risk.’

Semaglutide is the most effective of a class of drugs known as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, the first of which were developed a decade ago as a type 2 diabetes treatment. These drugs mimic the GLP-1 hormone in the gut that helps mobilise the release of insulin, which regulates blood sugar. But scientists also found it suppressed appetite and made people feel full when they eat, leading to weight loss.

In a series of studies, semaglutide consistently showed obese patients lost around ten per cent of their weight and kept it off for as long as they continued to use the treatment. This result was achieved even if volunteers didn’t make any other changes, such as eating a special diet or carrying out more exercise.

Semaglutide, under brand name Ozempic, has been offered in the UK for diabetes since 2019 – though doctors have been able to prescribe it ‘off-label’ as a weight-loss aid alone. In March NICE approved it for obese people who wanted to slim down – but since then stocks have been running dry.

The main issue is that Ozempic manufacturer Novo Nordisk is struggling to meet ‘unprecedented demand’ – thanks, at least in part, to dramatic stories of body transformations that have been circulating on social media.

Kim Kardashian was rumoured to have used it to help her fit into one of Marilyn Monroe’s gowns for a red carpet event in May last year, and Twitter boss Elon Musk, 51, claimed he lost almost 30 lb (14 kg) and got ‘fit, ripped and healthy’ thanks to Ozempic.

The resulting stampede of dieters trying to obtain the drug meant diabetics were unable to get their vital treatment.

In July, the MHRA issued an alert, banning doctors from prescribing semaglutide to anyone but those with type 2 diabetes who were already on it. But this newspaper discovered online pharmacies were still willing to sell the jabs for weight loss alone.

Stock issues are unlikely to be resolved until mid-2024, Novo Nordisk confirmed last month.

Tirzepatide is the first of a new class of drugs, combining a GLP-1 receptor agonist (the class of drug which includes semaglutide) with another compound known as a glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptor agonist, which also stimulates insulin production.

Michigan-based obesity expert Dr Spencer Nadolsky, medical director of Weight Watchers and its US-only digital health platform Sequence, has been prescribing the treatment to his diabetes patients since it was approved by US regulator the Food and Drug Administration last year. He said: ‘It’s the most powerful drug of its kind. It results in better blood sugar control and patients are happier because they’ve lost weight and feel great.

‘They say it quiets down the food noise – that unrelenting thinking about food people describe. That really improves quality of life.

‘At the moment it’s only available for diabetes, but patients hear about it on social media and come and ask for it. That’s been a huge part of why these treatments are so popular. If people can’t get it – if their insurer won’t fund it, for instance – then we do see them going online and buying fakes. It’s a big concern.’

Later this year Weight Watchers UK is set to launch a nutritional support programme for patients on new weight-loss drugs. Dr Nadolsky added: ‘If patients aren’t monitored closely they can lose too much weight because they can find they don’t want to eat.

‘We offer a comprehensive diet and exercise programme to minimise muscle loss and make sure they get the right nutrients.’

Dr David Strain, clinical senior lecturer at University of Exeter and honorary consultant, who was involved in the UK trials, said a lack of long-term patient data might be one reason NICE has been reluctant to approve the drug for NHS use.

He said: ‘There is no doubt [tirzepatide] is better than semaglutide at controlling blood sugar and helping patients lose weight, but we know from studies that semaglutide does more than that. Taken for long enough, it reduces fatal and non-fatal heart attacks and strokes.

‘That’s why NICE decided it was cost effective to prescribe the drug widely.

‘We just don’t know yet whether tirzepatide, which does the same thing but uses slightly different chemical pathways, will provide the same knock-on benefits. It probably will, but because it’s brand new we just don’t have enough evidence to say for certain.’

The cost of both semaglutide and tirzepatide is roughly between $1,000 and $1,500 (£793 to £1,190) for a one-month supply of four pens in the US. The NHS pays vastly less for semaglutide – around £73 a month. Semaglutide can be purchased privately in the UK from £175.

How much the NHS will be prepared to pay for tirzepatide is not yet known, however cardiologist Kausik Ray, professor of public health at Imperial College London, who is currently involved in three trials looking at possible heart benefits of the drug, said: ‘This drug gives us something we’ve never had before – a medication that works as well as bariatric [weight-loss] surgery. That’s how effective it is.

‘I am pretty confident NICE will approve it soon and it’ll be available before the end of the year, as tackling diabetes and obesity is a priority for the Government.

‘But it’s likely there will be restrictions. If you have a good result with [a GLP-1 receptor agonist, such as semaglutide] then you’d use that. If that doesn’t get a patient where they need to be, then you could try tirzepatide.’

He added: ‘We have treatments that control cholesterol and blood pressure, but whether patients take them is another matter.

‘The big difference here is that people can see, in the mirror, the benefits of this drug – their clothes fit better, their self-esteem goes up.

‘That’s why there is such a demand. And there are even stronger, more effective drugs on the way.’

Dr Strain agreed: ‘We need to also have a focus on preventing, rather than just treating.

‘We don’t know whether, once you start taking these drugs, you can come off them. It’s likely that this will be a treatment that people will need to be on for life.

‘But there is going to be a massive shift in the management of diabetes and obesity over the next ten years. We could see these drugs as widely prescribed as statins.’

Visitors are flocking to a zoo in eastern China to see a strange-looking bear that has gone viral online over speculation it is, in fact, a person in a costume.

Around 20,000 people a day are now going to Hanzhou Zoo, a 30 per cent rise since the video was first shared on Sunday, to judge for themselves.

Speculation broke online after Angela the sun bear was seen standing, begging for food, with the camera angle offering an unflattering view of its loose bottom fur.

Now, tens of millions have seen clips of the bear clumsily trying to catch food thrown into the enclosure by visitors and appearing to resign itself to sitting on a rock.

The zoo was quick to dismiss claims the animal playing dress-up, stressing that such deception would not happen at a state-run zoo.

New photos from the zoo show visitors gathering to see the bear as it walks around its enclosure and snacks on a mix of fruit and vegetables.

Qian Ming, one of 20,000 a day now making the pilgrimage, told local TV he had travelled 150 miles by train, from Suzhou, to see the bear. ‘We travelled overnight last night to get here,’ he said.

Another visitor, Mr You, told a local news outlet: ‘After seeing this bear standing up on the internet, I wanted to see how it looks in real life, so I came here.’

The Hangzhou Zoo has been clear that Angela is a real bear, explaining that sun bears can look a little different to what we might expect.

A spokesperson said: ‘When it comes to bears, the first thing that comes to mind is a huge figure and astonishing power.

‘But not all bears are behemoths and danger personified.’

They were also careful to dismiss claims Angela was a person in a suit, adding:

‘If you get someone to wear such thick fur in this summer heat, they won’t last more than a few minutes before they need to lie down.

‘We are a government-operated zoo. There will never be situations like that.’

Experts have also weighed in on the popular clip. Dr Ashleigh Marshall, an expert from Chester Zoo, told the BBC that the animal ‘is definitely a real bear’.

She explained that the folds on its back, assumed to be evidence of an ill-fitting costume, help protect the bear from predators, as the looseness allows the bear to ‘turn around in their skin’ and fight back if grabbed.

Others have responded to the story with concern for the bear’s welfare. 

Jason Baker, Vice President at PETA Asia, said: ‘Sun bears are living, feeling beings, not a joke, and PETA hopes that people will think about the suffering and needs of animals who spend an eternity behind bars. 

‘These highly intelligent, social animals deserve to live free and thrive in their natural environment – not be used as mere spectacles for human entertainment. 

‘PETA strongly urges Hangzhou Zoo and all similar establishments immediately to stop using sun bears or any other animals for breeding purposes. 

‘And we call on the public to support sanctuaries and wildlife reserves that prioritise the well-being of animals in their care.’

Sun bears have distinct features such as a short, sleek black coat, a pale yellowish crescent on their chests (which gives them their name), and a light-colored muzzle.

They are also known as honey bears – due to their love of honey – and dog-faced bears… for their dog-like faces.

Their big paws with hairless soles may look like feet, but are adapted to help them climb.

Sun bears are the size of large dogs, standing at most 1.3 meters (4ft 3′) tall on their hind legs – far shorter than other species.

‘Mmm, ice cream so good. Ooh, you got me feeling like a cowgirl. Gang gang. Fire, fire, fire,’ says TikToker PinkyDoll cheerfully as she sticks her tongue out and noisily pretends to lick a cone. 

For the uninitiated, her nonsensical stream of words might seem like baffling gibberish but for those who love TikTok livestreams, they will probably seem very, very familiar. And for former stripper PinkyDoll, they’re her way of making a living.

Welcome to the new and bizarre trend of ‘NPC streaming’, which has taken the social media world by storm this month and is seeing TikTokers raking in thousands of pounds a day – with some earning in an hour more than average Brits do in a month.

The surreal trend is named after the ‘non-playable characters’ in video games that awkwardly repeat pre-programmed phrases and movements. It sees some content creators dressing up like elves and attempting to mimic the actions of these computer-generated extras while saying cartoonish catchphrases on a livestream. 

PinkyDoll – real name Fedha Sinon – became an internet celebrity this month thanks to her eccentric reactions. The social media star’s following has ballooned to almost 800,000 after her ‘ice cream so good’ clip went viral. Now tens of thousands of people tune in to watch her live streams.

In typical performance the 27-year-old mother from Montreal, Canada, will stare into a camera while delivering a set of phrases. As she streams, fans will send her digital gifts that she reacts to. Some could be ice cream cones, others a donut or a rose. But all represent a payment for Ms Sinon, who is also a star on OnlyFans.

The items, which range in value from $0.01 for a tennis ball emoji to more than $500 for a single TikTok ‘universe’ symbol, can be traded in for digital ‘diamonds’ that can be converted into real cash, with TikTok taking a 50 per cent slice as a commission. 

It’s meant Ms Sinon can now earn between $2,000 (£1,500) and $3,000 (£2,300) per stream – and about $7,000 (£5,400) a day across all her social media platforms. Before she might have made $250 a day.

Ms Sinon, who previously owned her own cleaning company, said she started livestreaming on TikTok at the start of the year as a way to make cash.

‘I needed money to feed my kid and pay the bills. I had no job,’ she told Motherboard. ‘I decided to put all my effort on TikTok to make money. And I wasn’t expecting to go viral.’

There are others jumping on this cash grab too, with TikTokers like Cherry Crush and Satoyu727 bringing in millions of followers, and raking in a pay cheque for pretending to be an NPC.

The producer and rapper Timbaland is reportedly one of Ms Sinon’s biggest fans, having recently reposted a video on his own TikTok account of her breaking character during a livestream after noticing he was watching. 

But others have been left baffled by it, with one person saying: ‘I’ve never been more confused in my entire life,’ while another added: ‘This is more dystopian than any episode of Black Mirror.’

Academics have branded what Ms Sinon and others are doing as fetish content and argued that for some viewers, there was a sexual element to watching the video and controlling the actions of the content creators making them. 

Cherry Crush is another trending NPC streamer. She wears wigs and elf ears while barking and making ‘nom nom nom’ sounds. Both Ms Sinon and Cherry Crush run their own OnlyFans account with explicit content, but there’s nothing overtly sexual about their TikTok streams. 

However, Christian Tran, a doctoral researcher of internet culture and digital labour at the University of Toronto, suggested the videos were an extension of the sort of online performances erotic workers have been honing for years.

‘I think the NPC streamer can be understood as the media granddaughter of sorts to the “e-girls” influencers that populated Twitch and TikTok in the early 2020s,’ she told The Guardian. ‘These are also self-sexualized creators who built their followings by combining the aesthetics of gamer culture with cam girl influencing.’ 

Cherry Crush, who is from Ohio, America, insisted her TikTok streams weren’t fetish content. ‘I don’t make my show sexually suggestive at all,’ she told the New York Times. ‘I always thought it was just funny [and] entertaining.’

‘I don’t really care what people say about me,’ added Ms Sinon in an interview with the paper. ‘If they want to think I am this or that, it’s fine with me.’

Matt Woods, chief executive and founder of AFK Creators, who link the UK’s biggest online stars to brands like MasterCard and HelloFresh, said the trend had become popular with gamers. 

‘This whole trend can feel like an episode of the TV show Black Mirror but in fact it can become engrossing,’ he told MailOnline. 

‘From a creator perspective it looks funny but its also a huge way of earning money from donations and gifts, specifically on TikTok.

‘From a user perspective, people gain satisfaction from having control over the actions of others, in the same way they would in real life or video games.’

Matt predicted the trend would help TikTok live to ‘massively grow’ as its donation model ‘hasn’t really taken off’ until now.   

‘Now, with this trend of donating digital items for people to pretend to be computer game characters, the donation model has blown up massively, meaning the amount of money generated by donations and gifts as well as growing the number of average non TikTok people that have started both streaming and watching TikTok live,’ he added.

For PinkyDoll, it was all about striking while the iron is hot and making money while she can. ‘At the end of the day, I’m winning,’ she adds.  

The Glucose Goddess Method: Your Four-Week Guide to Cutting Cravings, Getting Your Energy Back, and Feeling Amazing

by Jessie Inchauspe (New River £22, 288pp)

Well, who wouldn’t want to feel amazing? Inchauspe is a French biochemist and author, and she certainly does look amazing. We all need blood sugar, but we need to manage it.

The folks who make sweets weren’t born yesterday, so managing our sugar is not as easy as it sounds. The core of this book is a four week, step-by-step plan to steady our blood sugar.

Inchauspe recommends a tablespoon of cider vinegar every day (for its blood-sugar levelling qualities) — any way you choose, but easiest stirred into a glass of water.

Then it should be: a savoury breakfast never a sweet one; a bowl of veggies before your main meal of the day, and make sure you move, for example by taking a ten-minute walk, afterwards. As an added bonus, there are more than 100 delicious looking recipes. Now where’s my cider vinegar?

Killing Thatcher

by Rory Carroll (Mudlark £25, 416pp)

Spoiler alert: the title’s wrong . . . the IRA never did kill Thatcher. But if you didn’t know that, this compelling book by the Guardian’s hugely respected Ireland correspondent might not be for you.

The IRA bomb, on a delayed timer, exploded in the middle of the night on October 12, 1984, at the Grand Hotel in Brighton. It was the last day of the Tory party conference. Rooms were destroyed, dozens of people injured and five killed.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was in her lounge when the explosion ripped through the hotel. Had she been just a few feet in another direction, she would have been cut to ribbons. As it was, she was unhurt. It was the most daring conspiracy since the Gunpowder Plot, and Carroll’s telling of it reads like a thriller: true crime is very big business these days, and you won’t find anything more gripping than this.

Outlive: the Science and Art of Longevity

by Dr Peter Attia with Bill Gifford (Vermilion £22, 496pp)

There’s no shortage of books these days encouraging us to live better, healthier and longer lives. And you will certainly need a long life for this humongous tome.

Peter Attia, a leading specialist in medicine and longevity, sets up this look at human health with the story of the hapless mythical Greek Tithonus, whose lover, the goddess Eos, asked Zeus to give him eternal life.

To his joy, his wish was granted but because Eos forgot to ask for eternal youth as well, his body continued to decay. Big problem.

What Dr Attia wants us to do is live a long, meaningful and fulfilling life based on physical, emotional and spiritual health. Ominously, it turns out that the blood and cholesterol tests we get from an annual health check may be ‘normal’, but we might still be unhealthy — because average is not the same as optimal. Above all, exercise is hugely beneficial: just a little bit of daily activity is better than nothing.

Going from zero exercise to just 90 minutes a week can reduce your risk of dying prematurely from all causes by 14 per cent. And as the author says — it’s very hard to find a drug that can do that. The book comes with a belting endorsement from actor Hugh Jackman — and he looks pretty good.

Selling Hitler: the Story of the Hitler Diaries

by Robert Harris (Penguin £10.99, 342pp)

Still as gripping as ever, even four decades after it was first published, this new edition, to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the ‘Diaries’, also comes with a cleverly designed new cover suggesting an age-old forgery. Harris, one of Britain’s most successful novelists, is also a dab hand at non-fiction.

In April 1983, in a bank vault in Switzerland, the German magazine Stern offers to sell more than 50 volumes of Hitler’s secret diaries.

The price is £2.3 million. In Britain, the bidder was Rupert Murdoch’s Sunday Times. Behind the fraud are Gerd Heidemann a German journalist obsessed with collecting Nazi memorabilia (and not in a good way) and Konrad Kujau, a small-time forger of luncheon vouchers looking to, er, expand.

In the supporting cast are a collection of media magnates, editors, journalists, academics and experts — all unified by greed and gullibility, which blinded them to the obvious implausibilities of the banal collection. Specimens of Hitler’s handwriting were authenticated because they were compared to other examples of the forger’s work.

Hilarious and barely credible, it is still one of the best books you will ever read about British journalism.

I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was

by Ruby Wax (Viking £18.99, 224pp)

She may be famously depressive, but Ruby can write about depression without ever being depressing. Far from it: this is a fabulously entertaining read, despite encompassing a nervous breakdown, arduous inpatient treatment at a mental hospital and her husband’s prostate cancer.

Ruby is one of the funniest women around and fearsomely honest. She started this book as an account of travelling the world; it ended up as something very different.

There are some scarringly frank verbatim accounts of sessions with her shrink, but also wildly funny comic setpieces: like the time when, working part-time on the door at a strip club, she persuaded the bored strippers to put on a performance of Chekhov. The punters, however, were not impressed. She also has fascinating memories of the stars she has interviewed from OJ Simpson to Carrie Fisher.

A delightful book, endearingly chaotic and deeply moving, too: it is like spending a wild weekend with one of the funniest, smartest and most interesting people you will ever meet.

Ultra-Processed People: Why Do We All Eat Stuff That Isn’t Food . . . and Why Can’t We Stop?

by Chris van Tulleken (Cornerstone £22, 384pp)

Not a book to make you feel happy about your three meals a day.

Over the past 100-odd years we have entered a new age of eating, where most of our calories come from an entirely new set of substances — all skilfully engineered to drive excess consumption, with ultra-processed food (UPF) making up 60 per cent of the average diet in this country and in the U.S.

They are now the leading cause of early death around the world, though quite how that fact is calculated is slightly beyond me. So what is UPF?

There’s a long scientific definition, but what it boils down to is this: if it’s wrapped in plastic and has at least one ingredient that you wouldn’t find in your kitchen, it’s UPF. It’s what an older generation would have called ‘junk food’.

Van Tulleken, a garlanded doctor, scientist and journalist, tells the story with great wit, and no little anger, focusing on the rapid increase in obesity since the 1980s, largely due to UPF.

The multinational food corporations know what they’re doing, and they aim to make sure you will want (and buy) more. Very disturbing . . . and make sure you check your kitchen cabinets.

Giles and Mary: Country Life — a Story of Peaks and Troughs

by Giles Wood and Mary Killen (Ebury Spotlight £17.99, 256pp)

Giles Wood and Mary Killen are the ultra-posh couple from Channel 4’s Gogglebox, who have seemingly been delighting fans of the show since 2015 as they burble away on television to each other about television.

Now they have parlayed this fame into this, their second book (their first was about marriage).

Giles is an artist and gardener, while Mary is a journalist: the Spectator’s agony aunt no less. They moved into their cottage, near Marlborough in Wiltshire, some 30 years ago, after buying it from one of Mary’s chums on Tatler magazine — and extremely cosy the place looks, too.

This book feels like sitting in an agreeable, upscale country pub, with a G&T, eavesdropping on the likeable-looking couple at the next table, while they bang on about the ups and downs of country life: dogs and vets, what the Common Agricultural Policy did to the countryside (not much good), septic tanks, vicars, edible flowers, pub closures and planning horrors. And the rest.

And, as Giles remarks of his friends in South London, if you are one of those people who has to spend most of your life in a traffic jam moving at the pace of a horse and cart, there’s plenty in this book to muse on.

Built to Move

by Kelly and Juliet Starrett (Orion £18.99, 336pp)

We take it for granted that our bodies will just keep on going in (reasonably) good condition. But would you buy a Maserati and leave it sitting out in all weathers for months on end and then expect it to carry on working properly? The Starretts introduce us to a series of physical work-outs to counteract the effects of our sedentary, technology-dependent way of living.

The most ferocious — and most vital — challenge is the Sit-and-Rise Test. You cross one foot in front of the other and sit down on the floor cross legged. Then rise up with your arms outstretched.

This test measures our wellbeing and flexibility. Though most of us will find it staggeringly hard. Oh well, keep at it. It’s got to be good for us.

Colditz, Prisoners of the Castle

by Ben Macintyre (Penguin, £10.99, 384pp)

The latest page-turner from the seemingly inexhaustible keyboard of Macintyre, one of the most captivating of all World War II historians, doesn’t disappoint.

Colditz was the forbidding Gothic castle in the heart of Nazi Germany, used to house the most troublesome captives of the Third Reich, Allied prisoners of war who the Germans reckoned were always going to try to escape. Well, surprise surprise, that’s exactly what they did.

Compulsively readable, and told in Macintyre’s inimitable wry, humorous prose, this is a remarkable tale of rip-roaring derring-do, courage and extraordinary resourcefulness. With knotted sheets, secret tunnels and elaborate disguises, there were more attempted escapes from Colditz than any other camp.

But this immaculately-researched book also reveals a close-knit world sealed behind the prison’s massive walls, a place which included communists and women, aesthetes and philistines, spies, poets and traitors.

Half the population of the castle were German, and Macintyre paints a remarkable portrait of this crew, too — many cultured and humane and far removed from the brutal Nazi stereotype.

Some well-known figures take a knock to their reputation: Douglas Bader, the legless air ace, for example, was not wholly likeable. He was, says Macintyre, a total hero and at times a ‘complete bastard’. A superb book.

Marc Cucurella’s agent hits out at ‘FAKE NEWS’ reports linking the out-of-form Chelsea defender with Atletico Madrid less than a year after his £62m move to Stamford Bridge

• Marc Cucurella endured a miserable first season at Chelsea after his £62m move 
• His future is uncertain with the club in the process of trimming down their squad 
• A report suggesting he had been offered to Atletico Madrid has been dismissed

By Daniel Davis For Mailonline

Published: 03:31 EDT, 1 July 2023 | Updated: 04:07 EDT, 1 July 2023

Criminal ring ’caused seven people to kill themselves’ and extorted £3million from victims with fake emails saying they had to pay a fine of up to £170,000 or face child porn charges

• The phishing scam involved false emails from police, judges or institutions
• Police said they arrested 18 people in France and one in Belgium

By James Callery and Afp

Published: 09:59 EDT, 23 June 2023 | Updated: 11:50 EDT, 23 June 2023

Urgent warning over FAKE oxygen supplied to dentists as health chiefs launch criminal probe

• Evidence found the oxygen supplied by Tricodent Limited had been ‘falsified’ 
• The regulator cautioned however the risk to patient safety remains ‘low’  

By Emily Stearn, Health Reporter For Mailonline

Updated: 07:47 EDT, 6 June 2023

It’s no secret that many of us would be lost without our favourite apps, allowing us to order food, taxis and find anything we want on demand.

But product designer Soren Iverson has taken these to the next level, sharing fake extra features that some may secretly wish were real.

From LinkedIn nepo baby warnings to ‘dad’ alerts on Instagram, Mr Iverson posts a new hilarious idea everyday for thousands of amused Twitter fans.

No stone has been left unturned in his creations, with many likely to polarise readers between disgust and agreeance.

So let’s see what you think. MailOnline has pulled together a collection of Mr Iverson’s wackiest app ideas to date.

LinkedIn nepo babies

Whether it’s Miley Cyrus or your sister’s best friend, it’s likely you’ve come across someone that has got ahead thanks to the influence of successful relatives.

But – rightly or wrongly – it’s not currently easy to identify the so-called nepo babies in a crowd of applicants. 

That’s why Mr Iverson has thought up a nepotism disclosure for LinkedIn flagging the relationships between people in the industry.

While this may be switched off for premium services, Mr Iverson suggests it could make the playing field fairer for job applicants.

In his newsletter, he wrote: ‘For better or worse, nepotism isn’t going anywhere. I’ve personally witnessed executives bring in family members or friends into roles other people worked for years to get.’

Dad Instagram warnings 

It’s not unusual to receive randomly bizarre direct messages from someone you’ve never clapped eyes on.

In the past month we’ve seen a flood of SHEIN scams on Instagram, with thousands of users bombarded with bot messages.

Others have received unsolicited nude pictures and even abusive messages. 

So what if Instagram had a feature to help moderate inboxes and scare unwanted attention away?

Last week, Mr Iverson pitched a ‘dad’ warning system for the platform, alerting potential messengers that all chats are overlooked by parents.

While the designer admitted this would create a lot of tension,  there’s no doubt that users would think again before sending a strange message.

He added: ‘Regardless, people are unhinged and thus will send others insane things via DM. This is especially true for single women out there who deal with this the most.’

Google Maps temptations

Directing users to food shops, petrol stations and post offices are among the numerous functions of Google Maps.

But Mr Iverson suggests the app could go further, using browser history to tempt you with food at the instant you felt hungry.

This alert was also pitched in one of his latest posts , flagging the nearest Taco Bell on route to another destination.

Although this could be a hazard while driving, the designer still acknowledges it could be valuable if customisable. 

Scarebnb

Staying in a new place can be a creepy experience, with unknown sounds and floorboards creaking in the middle of the night.

To prepare visitors for a spooky stay, Mr Iverson proposed the idea of Scarebnb – a spinoff of the holiday letting app we all know and love. 

With this, users could rank properties for their scariness and add a guestimate as to how many ghouls lurk inside.

He joked: ‘The pricing is laid out below the listing details, but you still have to tap a switch in the app today to see actual prices. To me, this is the scariest part of the whole experience.’

Uber Eats leftovers

There’s no doubt that many of us think with our stomachs when ordering food on Uber Eats – sometimes unable to finish the last bite.

But what if leftovers did not have to go to waste and could go on to satisfy the appetite of someone else?

In what would be a health and safety nightmare, Mr Iverson has pitched the idea of recycling ‘gently used’ food on Uber Eats.

This would come at a 60 per cent discount, labeled with safety and ‘freshness not guaranteed’ warnings.

Despite being quite gruesome, food waste is a huge problem in the UK, with Brits chucking out around 6.6million tonnes every year.

Some firms are tackling this in a much safer way, including  TooGoodToGo which shows users which restaurants have unsold food at the end of each day.

Netflix mental health recommendations 

After a bad day or breakup, many of us have turned to Netflix to binge away our problems.

Right now, the streaming app steps in to ask if you’re still watching after 90 minutes of film or three TV episodes.

But Mr Iverson proposes that Netflix could take another step to check in when people are feeling vulnerable.

He wrote: ‘What if there was an upsell to get in touch with a BetterHelp therapist to talk about whatever you might be avoiding by watching Netflix?

‘Many people binge shows, and not always for the best reasons.’

Posture checker

iPhone’s are currently well-equipped to monitor personal health, with step counts, sleep monitors and even medication planners.

Yet, Mr Iverson suggests that serial slouchers could be better helped with an added posture checker.

The designer even proposes that app usage could be cut down if phone owners fail to correct their posture as advised.

Numerous people jumped in on Twitter suggesting they would actually pay for this feature.

Another joked: ‘You’re supposed to make bad concepts.’ 

Social media has been flooded with numerous other app suggestions in the midst of Mr Iverson’s posts.

Smell detectors and outfit-choosing apps were among the numerous suggestions put forward.

One Twitter user said: ‘I wish there was an app that told you how busy a place is. I want to know how busy H‑E‑B is right now.’

Another added: ‘I wish there was an app that could smell a smell and tell me what smell it is.’

A film production company was targeted by fraudsters using a voice ‘clone’ of Benedict Cumberbatch created by AI, the company revealed to DailyMail.com.

An eerily convincing Benedict Cumberbatch phoned the company to discuss a film deal, says Bob William, screenwriter and director at Peabody Films, a company based in Malaga, Spain.

The AI Cumberbatch was ‘100 percent the voice’, says Mr William, adding that the company was convinced it was the real actor at first.

When ‘Cumberbatch’ and his agent refused to meet in-person, they realized the ruse, saving themselves from losing money.

But, many others have fallen for similar scams, as AI is opening the door for new tools that bad actors can use to steal money from unsuspecting people. 

‘At first, the email seemed like a dream come true. Benedict Cumberbatch had apparently read the script for our upcoming movie and was interested in discussing a potential role,’ Mr William said.

‘As we read further, we couldn’t believe our luck. 

‘Here was one of the most talented actors of our time, reaching out to us and showing interest in our project.

‘We were shocked and disappointed to discover that we had been the victim of an AI program posing as a famous actor.’

The director says it’s an ‘example of the increasing sophistication of AI technology and its potential to deceive.’

Mr William said they were initially emailed by someone claiming to be the Avengers star’s agent, who then suggested setting up a call.

He realized it was a scam when the number he had called from seemed to have too many digits – and the fake ‘Cumberbatch’ was also very reluctant to meet in person. 

The technology to impersonate people’s voices is already here – and already being used by fraudsters.

Cybersecurity firm McAfee found that across the US, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Australia and India, ten percent of people have been targeted by an AI voice scam.

They show remarkable effectiveness too, with 78 percent of those reported to have been targeted losing money as a result. 

Earlier this year, Microsoft researchers demonstrated a text-to-speech AI model which can synthesize anyone’s voice from a three-second audio sample.

The model, VALL-E, can preserve the speaker’s emotional tone, and can make the person say anything — with its creators suggesting it can be used to create audio content scripted by other AI models.

The fake ‘Cumberbatch’ was 100 percent convincing, Mr William said.

‘It was the voice. No question about it,’ he continued. 

‘AI must have been the source. We thought at first it might be a voice actor playing a practical joke – but then it went on and they started asking for money. ‘

The company had several conversations with ‘Cumberbatch’, but then noticed ‘some red flags’, William says – including his reluctance to meet in person.

‘There were also some strange requests, such as asking us to pay a sign-up fee of £200,000 before even meeting us in person.’

William says he challenged the fake agent about where he had seen the script for the upcoming movie, Emma, which had not been widely circulated.

The question was not even acknowledged.

When he called the real company switchboard, he asked for James Hayes – but was told that no one of that name worked for the company.

William says he believes he was targeted because, as a small production company, they would not have the resources to check the detail.

He says he will now notify the company the alleged agent claimed to come from — Conway VanGelder, and says he is considering reporting the attack to the police.

AI-generated fake images and audio are already being widely used in business fraud, said AI and fraud expert Alexey Khitrov, Founder and President at ID R&D, speaking to DailyMail.com.

He said, ‘We’ve done a survey there with the enterprise participants. What we’ve seen is that 42 percent of them have seen the deep fakes being used in fraudulent attempts within their line of work. So it’s real, it’s there already.’

Peabody Films is an independent production company founded by iconic British film director Barney Platts-Mills, known for award-winning films including Bronco Bullfrog and Private Road.

Since Platts-Mills death in 2021, the company has produced feature films including The Way We Are, The Way We Were, slated for release in 2024.