My Dog Plays the Piano (My Cat Paints as Well)
We have arrived. It has come. We have entered an era of non-reality, reality. We cannot trust anything we see. Not anymore. AI has made everything fake. My dog can play the piano; my cat can paint; my husband is a Greek god married to a perfectly asymmetrical, unflawed goddess. Don’t believe me? I have proof. Here is live footage.
This is the world and our reality, going forth. We can create anything, change anything, and even make a live video to prove it. Thank you, AI. We can no longer trust the footage we see anywhere.
In the past few weeks, I have been seeing some incredible clips. I have watched animals do incredible things, things that are out of character for a wild animal. I have seen weather phenomena I didn’t know existed and people doing incredible things. I was in awe, only to find out it was all fake. My husband points out most of it when I show him the videos, and my disappointment is palpable.
I feel like I am wasting my time online when I open a full reel or stop to look at an incredible picture. So I no longer do. I am completely turned off by social sites on the internet. I just can’t stand being baited into some incredible story about a person rescuing a wild animal and then releasing it back into its environment, only to be disappointed when I see the obvious glitches in the proof that it isn’t real. And why is everyone doing this? Likes.
Everyone is stuck neck-deep in this culture of becoming instant millionaires by monetizing their media accounts. The currency they need is likes and followers. Like this. Like that. The more likes, the more visibility for the social media monster seeking pages to hang advertisers on. These advertisements need views. It’s a numbers game. The more hits a page gets, exposing its products to potential buyers, the better. This is the obsession these days. Get rich quickly with as little labor as possible.
This is the culture we have created. No one wants to work. Everyone wants some scheme that they can work from the comfort of their sofa. Who are we anymore?
I remember when a good, hard day at work was a badge of honor. You did something productive. You made something, or helped someone. Not anymore.
Now, the current and future generations just want to sit on their rears and rake in the dough with minimal effort.
Who is breeding this kind of future? I know I did not. I believe in a strong work ethic, and I have taught that to my son. He works. He has a feeling of pride and accomplishment at the end of his week. He had pride and appreciation for his skills, efforts, and outcomes. I don’t see that in these lids today.
I see lazy, bitter, and uninterested kids whenever anything requires effort or time. Thank you, social media. This is, for the most part, a product of your making. Parents, don’t pat yourselves on the back. You are equally at fault. You allowed the internet to become a babysitter for your kids, set no guidelines for responsible use, and set no limits on time spent online or gaming. This has bred an entire generation and culture with no attention span. And this is what we have. A multitude of humans who want the fast fix. In comes, AI.
AI has had a huge impact on the world. It has significantly changed the game. It can be a great tool, but more than likely it will turn out to be the worst addiction and creation known to man. Don’t worry, though. You will never know it is happening because the powers that be will make an AI video showing that everything is rosy, and you will fall on your sword, believing the lie and arguing that it is true. It does not stop there.
Let me ask you all a question. What happens when the media gets hold of the idea that they can generate news and alter it to suit their purpose? Maybe they want to appease an angry society over bad news, let’s say war. They can clean up the carnage or create a pretty picture to gain support for it. They can manipulate the scene into anything they can creatively envision. We are at that point.
AI’s misuse is not benign if the news media get an idea to change a dynamic. What happens when politicians start using it during campaign seasons? Not only can they make themselves look like the perfect benevolent champion they all believe they are, but they can also create reel after reel of the opponent doing heinous things, or put them in situations that never took place. They will manipulate and control everything out there.
What about crime? Imagine a murderer is on the loose and no one can find them. The police, or any policing agency, can now fabricate any video evidence they want. Imagine them doctoring the evidence to show you, red-handed, committing a crime.
How about a disgruntled acquaintance or friend? A jilted lover or a pissed-off school buddy? They can create the footage they want to, in order to destroy you. An angry person can make a video of an assault, sexual or otherwise, and use it to ruin you. Just how do you think you will ever be able to disprove it's real? If you manage that, once it’s out in the ether, everyone will Google you, see it, and form an instant perception of you that will never go away. Your reputation is forever in question.
I can imagine a certain social media inventor. If he had had this technology at the beginning of the social media nightmare, he could have ruined his rejector’s life. Instead, he built a behemoth that has never stopped creating misery, along with a sprinkling of happiness, to validate its existence.
Are you all getting the picture here? Because this has the potential to destroy anything and everything for anyone. Sometimes progress or invention is great, but it isn’t always advisable or prudent, and especially without thinking out the consequences and the ways in which it should be rolled out in an intelligent and safe manner. This has not been the case with AI.
There are multiple lawsuits involving the misuse of AI to manipulate a woman’s photo to make it appear as though she did things she never did, including changing pictures into nude, pornographic images of that person. That is why AI sites are now being forced to moderate content. There are nefarious individuals all over the world who are enjoying and taking full advantage of this capability. The world is now scrambling to govern AI activity to protect the innocent, but it will not go far.
Guns have been outright banned and made illegal in many countries, yet criminals still have them. All they have done is make innocent people easy targets for violent crime. The same will be true of AI. They will ban or restrict its use, but anyone with the will can and will use it for bad.
There are many countries that are used to host questionable content, and those don’t have, and probably will see no benefit in, complying with society’s call for restraint.
I have a vision in my head of a savvy teenager, boy or girl, tormenting a classmate, a bunch of mean girls, terrorizing another girl into taking her life, a bunch of bad boys, or spreading videos of a kid who beat them out for the quarterback spot, in order to have him removed from the team. Lives lost, lives destroyed or ruined, and constant drama are sure to follow with AI.
What are we doing? What have we done? Where will it end?
We have created a monster that will eat us alive. Normal, everyday people will lack the funds or technology to prove or disprove anything created with AI. Schools, small-town police departments, and the poor will have no defense against it. Most won’t have time to seriously investigate whether it’s true or fabricated. What then?
People with wealth will always be able to protect themselves. They will always have the best legal defense. This is not true for the general population. Hollywood has been up in arms about the use of this tech to impersonate their likenesses. Who cares about you, about us, the regular people, the muggles? It won’t be them. Not unless their image is in the clip and they don’t get royalties for it.
Think things through. If you see an AI-generated image or video, don’t click like. It encourages more fraudulent activity and creation. Protect your children. Teach them that, at this point, most content on social media or in general is fake. Protect yourselves as well. Document everything you can, and date and time-stamp it. Note who you are with and when. There is no telling when you might need that stupid information we neglect most of the time.
Protect what and who you love. Always. AI’ght? Yes, pun intended.
**For pictures of the Picatso in action, see me after class.
