The growth of misinformation perpetrated by โbad actorsโ is a real and present danger. Whilst Twitter has long been known as a hive of bots (and thus distrusted for years), lately Insta, Facebook, YouTube and even TikTok have witnessed the infiltration of anonymous accounts pushing far-right agendas and ideology. With the growth in the ability of technology to mimic and be mistaken for โrealโ people, it takes a lot of time to follow the trail of the โaccountโ back to its source.
Sometimes, tracing back an account is not necessary. A review of the accountโs last few posts reveals its very dubious nature. Perhaps the account has only just been set up, perhaps it has no ownerโs photo or bio, perhaps the posts prior to the latest were of a completely opposite point of view, meaning that there is a possibility that someone or something took over the account/stole it and repurposed it for its new ownerโs ends.
Add in the new kid on the blockโArtificial Intelligenceโand you have a poisonous cocktail of misinformation and disruption.
We have all seen and heard what AI can do, the fake photographs of people and events that never actually happened (such as the Pope in rapper gear (Carterr), and Trump being arrested by police (Lajka and Marcelo)). We may have also seen those many โdeep fakeโ videos of celebrities saying words and phrases they never said (Sant). Now we have AI generating pop songs in the style of major performers that are indistinguishable from the original artist. What is to stop a programmer creating a song or a video of Ye going hard with his antisemitism? Of divorcing celebrities saying horrible things about each other and thus sewing the seed of doubt about their ex in the publicโs eyes and ears?
Friend and fellow Business Communicator Shel Holtz recently showed the power of AI to help the creator write betterer (Holtz).
Sure, AI can be used for goodโresearching, fact-gatheringโbut its ability to generate anything digital should cause concern. Sadly, politicians and governments seem to be unable to either keep up with what AI is able to create, or to legislate it. AI is moving too fast to be stopped by mere humans.
Bibliography
Carterr, Eileen. “The Pope Francis Puffer Photo Was Real in Our Hearts.” GQ https://www.gq.com/story/pope-puffer-jacket-midjourney-ai-meme. Accessed 20th May 2023.
Holtz, Shel. “Letter to Client.” Facebook, 28th May 2023.
Lajka, Arjeta and Philip Marcelo. “Fake Ai Images of Putin, Trump Being Arrested Spread Online.” PBS https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/fake-ai-images-of-putin-trump-being-arrested-spread-online Accessed 23rd May 2023.
Sant, Hitesh. “How to Spot Deepfakes in 2023.” Geekflare https://geekflare.com/ways-to-spot-deepfakes/. Accessed 20th May 2023.