Tennessee head coach Kim Caldwell in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against UConn, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Hartford, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Tennessee head coach Kim Caldwell in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against UConn, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Hartford, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
PARKERSBURG — A Facebook post describing false information about Kim Caldwell, who is the head coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers and a former basketball player for Parkersburg South High School, gained traction over the weekend.
The post was confirmed to be false.
Posted Jan. 30 by the Facebook account Orange & White Power, the post read, “BREAKING NEWS: Tennessee Lady Volunteers Head Coach Kim Caldwell Donates Entire $2 Million in Sponsorship Earnings to Build Homeless Support Center.”
By Wednesday, the post had attracted nearly 200 likes, 30 comments and nearly 200 shares.
Caldwell was contacted Monday for comment and said, “That’s AI. Thank you for checking!”
The post contained a link to an article which led readers further into fake articles, pop-ups and ads. The account from which the post originated has not been confirmed for authenticity.
With so much content on the internet and technological advances in AI-generated media, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to identify content created by AI.
FactCheck.org posted “How to Combat Misinformation” in April 2025 and said research concluded “over half of U.S. adults say they at least sometimes get news from social media.”
With AI becoming more integrated in everyday life for most people, false news has been amplified with an influx of AI-generated content anyone can create.
How do people combat misinformation in a world where anyone can post anything they created?
Vince Castillo, assistant professor of marketing and logistics at The Ohio State University, specializes in supply chain logistics, operations management and corporate responsibility and the utilization of AI in those areas.
He said in his courses at the university, he asks his students to work with AI to learn its strengths and its restrictions.
Castillo said AI is nearly undetectable with how advanced it’s become. Audio, text and images are now easily curated with tools like ChatGPT and OpenAI. Essentially, anyone can create an entirely made-up image, video or text and post it on the internet.
“It’s gotten to the point where we can’t be 100% certain,” said Castillo. “Some websites might be able to catch it but most detectors are unreliable and biased against non-native English speakers.”
Castillo said some AI-generated content has watermarks — a mark embedded on a document, image or video often used to display a logo — but people can easily use photoshop to cover it.
He said because AI content can be undetectable to the naked eye, he recommends internet users go directly to the source.
“What is the source of the content? Is the content source trustworthy? How long has the account been active?” are some of the questions Castillo encouraged internet users to ask themselves when viewing content online.
He said instead of quickly reacting, liking, sharing or commenting on a post, internet users should pause and research the information they are presented with before taking any action.
“We are in a dangerous place because we’ve been taught to immediately react to what we see on social media,” said Castillo. “It’s meant to quickly distribute information rather than pause and look into its accuracy.”
Castillo recommended fact-checking and resisting the urge to react or comment on social media posts. Content that is going viral should be looked into and confirmed using reliable sources.
In Castillo’s publication, “Innovating Supply Chain Higher Education with Generative AI,” he described how students should be encouraged to use AI and learn how to become familiar with its functions and limitations.
Understanding AI and how it operates could benefit internet users by providing them with additional knowledge for identifying whether an online post is AI or not.
Fake or altered images, texts and audio aren’t new, it’s just become easier and more abundant as technology advances.
FactCheck.org also advised looking into evidence such as links to reliable sources or research. It’s recommended to research the topics being presented in online content and social media posts for more information and to fact-check the information or images.
Visit https://www.factcheck.org/2025/04/how-to-combat-misinformation/ for tips on identifying misinformation or AI-generated content.
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