There are bad rumors (Richard Gere got the gerbil). And then there are rumors that you’re dating a beautiful, Grammy-winning songwriter. Michael B. Jordan got the good kind.

This week, social media has filled up with what seem to be AI-generated images of the actor and Raye kissing, going on dates, and living out a relationship that, as far as anyone knows, doesn’t exist. An X post with a fake image of the two posing affectionately at the MTV Video Music Awards (an event Jordan didn’t even attend) gathered over 800,000 views and, as of Wednesday, Elon Musk’s platform still hasn’t affixed a “made with AI” label on it, or flagged it as being digitally manipulated. By Monday, the fake romance had gone viral enough that Raye was being asked about it on a red carpet.

Raye denied the rumor, but Jordan hasn’t—which is understandable, considering that the rumor has him dating a wildly talented and gorgeous musician. It’s like the flattering version of a loaded question: Are you dating Raye? Say yes and you’re lying. Say no and you’re rejecting some pretty enviable gossip. Meanwhile, half the world probably wishes they were dating Raye! (Me included, and I’m gay.) Jordan’s publicity team declined to comment when VF reached out.

To be fair to Jordan, it doesn’t really matter what he says at this point, because people already believe it. The rumor belongs to the internet now. An X user with over 50,000 followers commented “People out here living my dream,” on the post with the image of the fake couple. “Soulmate energy,” commented another.

The fact that the Gere/gerbil malarkey survived for decades is evidence that celebrity gossip doesn’t need much proof to proliferate. Such is the stickiness of Hollywood rumors. But generative AI has drastically changed the equation. Now a rumor has its own deepfaked receipts, and as a result, the people paid to protect celebrities from this kind of nonsense tell Vanity Fair that AI-generated rumors are becoming increasingly difficult to combat.

“It’s certainly concerning how realistic AI photos have become in such a short amount of time. But what is more concerning is how nefariously this technology can be used—like porn deepfakes—and with such ease. We must push for regulation,” a celebrity publicist, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about their work, tells Vanity Fair.