A flight attendant humiliated Google CEO Sundar Pichai after observing how he was dressed and questioning his first class ticket.
According to a rumor circulating online in January 2025, a flight attendant named “Jessica” humiliated Google CEO Sundar Pichai after observing his appearance and questioning his first class ticket. It is said that he gave it. According to the story, flight attendants became suspicious of the Indian-born executive’s presence in first class after observing his appearance, which included wearing a T-shirt and jeans, an expensive watch, expensive shoes, and no shoes. It is said that it became. Luxury briefcase. After interrogating him, she was embarrassed to learn his true identity as Google’s CEO, prompting Pichai to apologize and leading to a re-evaluation of the worldwide airline training program.
A Snopes reader emailed and asked, “This article is trending on Medium, Facebook, and WhatsApp. It appears to be a fake article about Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Can you verify it?” Readers were provided with a link to the story hosted on the publishing platform Medium.com. The headline of the January 11, 2025 article was, “Flight attendant insults Sundar Pichai in first class – the truth is shocking!”
A search on Google for more examples of people who shared articles about Pichai returned results for Facebook, LinkedIn, Threads, YouTube, and X. Some of these posts included statements from users who believed the articles to be true. 1 X user Posted A video promoting the article says, “We’re a little frustrated that an article — which we’re pretty sure is an AI-generated piece of crap — is going viral on WhatsApp in India.”
As the user believed, the plane story was completely false. a Google news search No contemporaneous reports of such incidents were found. someone made up this story engagement bait To obtain video views and, in some cases, advertising revenue.
How did you determine whether a rumor was incorrectly evaluated?
users who manage Bold Voice YouTube Channel published one of the earliest videos promoting this story on January 10th. This clip has been viewed over 100,000 times. of video The clip’s description included a disclaimer describing the channel’s content as a “fictional story.” There was also a disclaimer at the end of the Medium.com article that described the text as a “fictional story.”
The creator of the YouTube video used an unknown artificial intelligence (AI) tool to create a thumbnail image for the clip. It featured a fake perspective of a flight attendant criticizing Pichai in a section of the plane that resembled economy rather than first class. The clip itself showed fake photos of Pichai sitting in at least three different seats on a plane and in an office chair, and also included an AI-generated script and voiceover.
Another sign of the story’s problematic nature includes the fact that two of the flight attendants’ last names were incorrectly referred to in the video script as “Jessica Parker” and “Jessica Thompson.” The article includes the date the incident occurred, the name of the airline, and other people mentioned in the article, such as the “captain” of the flight and a “famous actress” who were seated near Pichai. Important identifying details, such as names, were also missing.
Further evidence that the story was fabricated includes false depictions of flight attendants insulting figures such as U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, former First Lady Melania Trump, actor Keanu Reeves, and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, among others. Brought to you from other recent YouTube videos drawn and generated by AI. Hoping for a viral hit, users created these videos featuring numerous celebrities.
We previously reported on other similar YouTube videos featuring fictional stories and elements generated by AI. For example, one such false story claimed officials at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. asked Sasha Obama to leaveanother fictional story in which Barron Trump, the youngest son of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, gave up his first-class seat on a plane to a military veteran.
