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A popular search engine’s AI feature has been found repeating the false claim that Donald Trump died of rabies weeks ago.
If you’ve been keeping up with the news, even on a bare minimum level, you’ll know that Trump is alive at the very least. With that, any false reporting from auto-generated content like AI ironically prompts fresh warnings about how unreliable information can be presented as fact by automated search tools.
AI summaries are increasingly being used by search platforms to give users quick answers without requiring them to click through multiple links. However, the technology has repeatedly faced criticism for confidently returning inaccurate information, particularly when it pulls from unreliable sources, satire, or deliberately planted falsehoods.
Previously, it’s been the biggest names like Google Gemini that’s had meltdowns in the past, but now, these problems seem to be shifting to other names in the AI space.
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According to Futurism, the search engine in question was DuckDuckGo, whose AI Search Assist feature reportedly told users that US President Donald Trump had died from rabies earlier in June.
The result allegedly cited an article from WKNA 49 News, a local West Virginia broadcaster, which carried the headline: “Former President Donald Trump passes away following reported infection.”
Futurism’s AI testing resulted in DuckDuckGo stating that Trump died on June 7, 2026, before adding: “The infection was linked to a sequence of events involving Vice President JD Vance, who passed away shortly before Trump.”
This, again, is of course inaccurate on all levels, as JD Vance is indeed still alive, as well.
The WKNA article claimed Trump had died after a rabies infection connected to a strange chain of events involving not only Vance, but also Robert F Kennedy Jr.
It alleged Kennedy had advised the president that a bite from Vance could provide biological benefits similar to ‘superpowers.’
The article then made further claims about Vatican involvement in funeral arrangements, a silver-lined coffin, and spiritual figures potentially holding a press conference.
While the full article appears obviously fabricated, Futurism’s reporting has confirmed that DuckDuckGo’s AI tool still surfaced it in response to a user query, nevertheless, trying to present clearly what’s false information as fact.
The outlet suggested the incident may be linked to r/poisonai, a Reddit community where users post deliberately false information in an apparent attempt to influence AI systems and search results; in fact, the aforementioned part about Vance having rabies, as well — that alone is one of the favourite fabrications that its approximately 45,000 members love to share.
Responding to that example, a spokesperson for Brave — whose own AI search engine had now started stating Vance’s false rabies-fuelled death as truthful said: “Search engines, with or without AI, are not oracles of truth.”
They added: “We encourage users to check claims and Brave Search responses include links to content sources when they are available, so that users can verify claims and sources.”
As for DuckDuckGo, the company reportedly did not respond to Futurism’s request for comment before publication.
