In a day and age of Artificial Intelligence (AI) fakes, it's not crazy to expect that high-level pranks take place every day, with some of them being quite effective, as was the case in Washington D.C. this week.

According to the Daily Mail, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, a Republican, was brutally mocked after he reportedly posted a "resignation letter" from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell that ended up being an AI fake. 

The letter came at the same time that rumors had swirled that Powell could be on his way out the door, as President Donald Trump has made repeated calls for Powell to step down, as he refuses to lower interest rates.

The Utah Republican quickly deleted his post when he presumably found out the letter was a fake and that Powell had not officially resigned.

What's going on?

The letter that Sen. Lee posted on his X account was reportedly full of signs that it was a fake, as the Daily Mail pointed out.

The outlet noted:

The letter contained several obvious signs of being fake, including a seal that appears to be AI generated. It was also addressed to “The President, The White House, Washington DC,' and had several oddly placed hyphens in the middle of words.

Sen. Lee was quick to get in front of the situation, having corrected in within "seconds" while reaching out to The Hill and other outlets before a story was run.

“There appeared to be one, and it occurred to me seconds after I posted it that I hadn’t seen it anywhere else, so I deleted it out of an abundance of caution. I don’t know whether it’s legit or not," Lee said.

While Lee obviously made an honest mistake, it was not a great look for a man in his position to post such a bombshell piece of news without verifying it first, and X users had a field day disparaging him over the moment.

Most of the comments on the situation were downright nasty, but that's because it was Democrats doing most of the talking this time around.

Social media reacts

Users across social media were not kind to Lee for posting the fake, AI-generated letter.

"Bahahaha, he saw one completely fabricated letter and posted it, even though he hadn't seen it anywhere else. Can we please dump these low iq morons. It's such an embarrassment to the country and the state of Utah."

Another X user wrote, "Why does Utah continue to elect Lee? He does nothing but embarrass the state."

"He's a joke," another social media user said.