Bloopers & News 8/24/24
A.I. or not A.I., that is the question.
Two weeks ago Donald Trump claimed that a Harris rally in Michigan was fake. Here is video of that rally posted by the Times.
Donald Trump’s post:
There was nobody at the plane, and she ‘A.I.’d’ it, and showed a massive ‘crowd’ of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN’T EXIST!
She A.I.’d it, y’all! No matter that there was live video and photographs of the event. This is the future we can look forward to— people claiming that anything they don’t like is the product of A.I.
Many pundits on the left have speculated that Trump doesn’t even know what A.I. is. This is not an outrageous claim, seeing as this is a man who believes that he isn’t bald (and that the rest of us agree).
What is interesting here is that even if that crowd were fake the culprit would be photoshop or CGI (Computer Generated Imagery), not A.I. A.I. is not quite at a place (at least publicly) where it could instantly fake the video of a huge crowd greeting Kamala Harris. Sora has made a lot of promises about how amazing their AI video will be, but it has not been released yet.
I’ve noticed a lot of recent confusion between A.I. and CGI . My mom asks me frequently if I think something is A.I. This is her way of saying, “Has this image been altered?” which is interesting since we have been altering/fixing up images since the dawn of photography,
But I think mom’s question offers a taste of where we will be within the next year or two: we will all be constantly questioning the authenticity of what we are seeing (as if today isn’t bad enough with the need to question the legitimacy of what we are reading.)
My friend Robin (shout out to her Substack) recently called to tell me about Dirty Pop, a new documentary series on Netflix. The story is about Lou Pearlman, the man who formed The Backstreet Boys and NSync (and ended up screwing them all out of their money.) There are many clips of Pearlman sitting at a desk talking about his life.
Here’s the catch: it’s an AI version of him. The producers give us a head’s up at the start of the film, saying, “This is real footage of Lou Pearlman. This footage had been digitally altered to generate his voice and to synchronize his lips. The words were written by Lou in his book Bands, Brands, & Billions.”
Take a look at the result:
The filmmakers use these altered clips of Pearlman throughout the series, putting a disclaimer only at the beginning of each episode. Robin was disturbed by this, asking, “Shouldn’t they have to say it EVERY time he comes on screen?” I agree. One could easily miss the opening scene and think it was all real.
People on TikTok were also weirded out.
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It’s easier to swallow this fakery when the subject is a slimy con-man, but how would you feel if it were you or your dead grandmother speaking on screen with words that neither of you ever said out loud?
I will tell you what I told Robin. I predict the solution will be the creation of a type of fingerprint that goes into ALL digital content: videos, photographs and even typed words - an identity stamp that goes into every pixel we touch. This will make it possible to claim copyright infringement and plagiarism, and will also help to track the sources for false information and malignant propaganda. Leica Camera is already working on technology with CAI (Content Authenticity Initiative) which will make it possible to check the origin and history of a photograph.
I also hope that a new symbol will be created and put on every piece of AI media. Otherwise, we will be adrift in an ocean of forgery, lying, and stealing.
Nailed It.
I decided to use AI to make a logo to warn us about AI, and has a more apt logo ever been created?
Thanks Carolyn. We watched Dirty Pop and those interview takes were eerie. I found myself starting at Lou Perlman’s lips the whole time. Ugh talk about unintended consequences!
I think the third eye in the logo is the real clincher for me! It's wonderful.