Entry #4 - A.I. Generated Images - Illusion vs. Reality

 

A.I.generated image of two alligators, a dog, a bunny, and a mouse playing poker.

Illusion or Reality?

Hello world. Everyday artificial intelligence gets better and better, and with this comes with the reality that everything we see or hear might not be, well, real. "How is that, old man?" you might be asking? "If I see it, or hear it, it's real." And technically, you're right. This image of two alligators, a dog, a bunny, and a moose playing poker is technically real. It's an image. We can see it. It exists. But we also know that none of those animals are sitting around a poker table enjoying a bit of Texas Hold Em. So obviously the image isn't real. It was generated by artificial intelligence. 

If you've read my previous entries about A.I., you might remember the story I told you about the mother who scammers attempted to bribe for ransom with A.I. generated sound clips that sounded exactly like her daughter. Scary stuff. Now again, we all know these animals aren't really playing poker, so an image like the one I created above is easy to pinpoint as fake. But what happens when these obviously fake AI generated images start becoming virtually indistinguishable from a real picture? 

A.I. generated image of a post-apocalyptic stadium

The above image is a little bit harder to determine as fake, right? As of right now, we can still look at images like the one I created above, and if enough time is spent, we can probably determine if it's real or not. But we are in the infancy of A.I. generated images, at least in the sense that we can all access and use this technology for the first time. What happens when the technology improves, and politicians start using A.I. generated images to mass influence the general population? Or when A.I. generated images are used to maliciously destroy someone's personal life, or career? 

With all of the good A.I. brings, I just like to look at the bad that will inevitably result as we maneuver through this tricky world of artificial intelligence. Thanks for stopping by.