It’s called “AI slop.” You may have seen it in the form of cartoon cats engaged in weirdly tragic plots, or white women called Karen making improbably imperious demands on neighbors or service personnel (and being satisfyingly humiliated at the end). AI slop started as images; now it’s increasingly in video form. It also started, mostly, as “fun” in the hopes of going viral (which can be lucrative for content generators). But quickly, it became a powerful tool in generating fake news reels that are almost impossible to distinguish from reality. 

Now, AI slop has come for supply chain. A July 18 video posted on YouTube by user “PPR Mundial” claims Canada and Mexico are seeking to circumvent the U.S. (and its import tariffs) by building a “Northern Corridor” that avoids sending freight between the two countries through American territory.

A practiced eye can quickly spot suspicious elements. The voiceover takes a strange pause between “Saint” and “Lawrence.” Further, the billion-dollar numbers spouted appear to come from nowhere, and don’t even make sense internally. The video notes "Mexican battery modules" will travel by train to Prince Rupert, B.C. and then Ontario "without ever crossing the Canada-U.S. border." There is no rail route from Mexico to Canada that does not cross the U.S. border, points out The Canadian Press.

Finally, there’s no mention of why freight bound either from Mexico to Canada or Canada to Mexico, passing through the U.S., would be subject to tariffs in the first place. Even if such goods were not covered by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the rules of free trade zones, along with other instruments for avoiding tariffs on goods in transit, would apply.

Read More: U.S. Tariffs Are Here to Stay, Says Oxford Economics

Nevertheless, not only has the video proliferated, credible media outlets such as the Loadstar and South Africa’s Freight News have fallen for the scam. And, when even the President of the United States is pushing a fake video of former President Barak Obama being forcibly detained by FBI agents on his TruthSocial social media account, it seems slop AI is likely to keep blurring the lines between truth and fiction.

There’s no record of who owns or controls the PPR Mundial YouTube channel (with 210,000 subscribers), although it purports to “offer in-depth coverage of major economic developments and geopolitical dynamics across the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.” 

Queries to Mexico’s Department of Transportation (Secretaría de Infraestructura, Comunicaciones y Transportes, SICT) on the matter went unanswered. However, Global Affairs Canada, the department of the Government of Canada that promotes Canadian international trade, refuted the video’s claims.

“GAC is aware of online misinformation about a ‘Northern Corridor,’ this information is unfounded,” said Jason Kung, spokesperson for GAC, in an email to SupplyChainBrain. “NAFTA and its successor CUSMA have been beneficial for both Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. Canada looks forward to continuing to work closely with both the United States and Mexico on strengthening CUSMA. Since 1994, bilateral trade between Canada and Mexico has grown 12-fold, reaching $56 billion CAD in 2024. Mexico is also Canada’s third-largest trading partner, and we look forward to strengthening this relationship.”

Debunking such myths is a great deal more difficult than propagating them in the first place, of course. And the technology is getting better, fast. Soon, it will be easy to eradicate tell-tale signs of AI-generated content, such as blurry teeth, nonsense text and lack of continuity of action. Individuals and businesses, especially those that rely on relationships with remote clients and service providers in the supply chain, need to stay informed, and vigilant.

In the case of the "Northern Corridor" hoax, you can start by getting out a map.