Kirk Ferentz has indeed seen the deepfake videos of Brian Ferentz and Matt Campbell circulating through social media this month. He was asked about those videos and shared a colorful response during his Tuesday press conference.

The specific deepfake videos in question were published by the @HeavensFX account on X (formerly Twitter). One involved Brian Ferentz colorfully responding to his critics after scoring 41 points against Central Michigan and Matt Campbell clapping back at a fan he had a verbal confrontation with following one game. (In case it is somehow unclear, both videos are extremely fake with the help of AI.)

Kirk Ferentz admitted the creators of the videos are clever but also noted humanity sometimes “gets dumber” despite getting smarter with improved technology.

“I heard one on the radio last Wednesday I believe. Not regarding anybody in this building, but clever. Almost sounded authentic. Maybe they were for all I know,” said Ferentz. “I’ve got some artificial intelligence in my head, too, so maybe it was authentic. As we get smarter, I think sometimes we get dumber, quite frankly. I think that’s one observation I’ll make over the last X amounts of decades. It’s interesting, but it is clever. clever, entertaining all that stuff. I mean a lot of people must have time to do stuff (like that). I promise we’re not doing that.”