I continue to be astounded at the developments in the field of artificial intelligence. It's partly amusing & partly horrific to see these insanely powerful tools developing so rapidly that the human race doesn't really know how to handle it.
The most disturbing aspect of A.I. (so far) is the ability to deceive people. We can no longer trust what we see or hear in digital or print media to represent objective reality. As a graphic designer, I've always been able to easily spot "Photoshopped" or digitally-altered images. Now, with more advanced A.I. renderings being so realistic, I don't trust anything I see anymore.
However, I can still often tell when images are produced by A.I. programs. Unfortunately, the general public is not as discerning as I may be. It's easy to see how people could get fooled by the amazing technologies out there, if they are used for deceptive purposes.
One recent example that has already achieved "meme" status is a Willy Wonka-themed event in Scotland that had families so upset that the cops were called. The organizer/promoter used A.I. generated imagery to evoke a magical "Wonka Wonderland" that definitely did not properly represent the lame reality of the actual event.
The most iconic image to come out of the situation is the viscerally real "Sad Oompa Loompa Lady," who looks like she's cookin' up some Wonka Meth:
Another recent eaxmple of using A.I. technology, this time for for audio fakery, is the Joe Biden robo-call that used an A.I. generated simulation of Biden's voice to mislead Democratic primary voters:
We are in for a very wild ride into the future, as the implications of A.I being used for nefarious purposes becomes clear:
• Is that the actual voice of a politician, using a racial slur?
• Did that celebrity really get caught in a compromising sexual situation?
• Have we come into contact with extraterrestrial beings in the real world?
• Are soldiers of a particular nation truly committing war crimes?
We are already at the point where we will not be able to believe anything we see online. If we don't experience it directly with our own biological sensory organs, it could be a very convincing A.I. lie.
This is one of the aspects of artificial intelligence that people are totally not prepared to deal with... It will be interesting to see how we as a global society address these challenges and deceptions that we all will inevitably face.
