Fake Huang Trends on YouTube: Deepfake Outranks Real NVIDIA Broadcast

An alarming incident unfolded during the NVIDIA GTC 2025 conference, highlighting new risks in the age of artificial intelligence. Tens of thousands of YouTube users searching for the live stream with Jensen Huang became viewers of a high-quality deepfake that promoted cryptocurrency.

The deception was so massive that at one point, the fake broadcast gathered around 95,000 people, while the official live stream of Huang's real speech was watched by only about 12,000 viewers. For a time, YouTube's recommendation system even placed the fake stream at the top of search results for relevant queries.

In a recording of the fake stream made by eyewitnesses, the artificial version of Huang addresses the audience and announces a "postponement of the main presentation" to introduce "something truly special"—a purported NVIDIA initiative for the mass adoption of digital assets. To sound convincing, the deepfake linked the company's GPUs to the operation of the Ethereum and Solana blockchains.

The scam culminated with a QR code on the screen, urging users to send their cryptocurrency to participate in a "distribution." This stream has now been removed from YouTube, but the incident has sparked active discussion among cybersecurity experts, who note the growing sophistication of such fraudulent schemes.

The incident clearly demonstrates how advanced technologies are being used for social engineering, causing users to doubt the authenticity of what they see online.