Recently I saw a compendium of short (perhaps ten seconds apiece) videos showing Ring camera footage of house cats chasing away bears that got too close to babies on porches. That may seem like a very specific category, but there you go. I couldn't locate the original collection I watched, but you can see a few of them in these YouTube shorts:
• Here
• Here
• Here
• Here
There were more, but you get the idea.
It wasn't until I started wondering just how many stupid parents were leaving their babies unattended on porches that I noticed the fleeting logo floating around the screen:
I wouldn't have paid attention to this logo except by chance, just the day before, Older Daughter had shown me a video with the same jumping logo and explained how "Sora" is the automatic logo placed on AI videos created by Open AI. Specifically, "Sora is an AI model that can create realistic and imaginative scenes from text instructions," according to the website. Older Daughter also mentioned how some people are trying to scrub the logo by glossing over it, so if you see a video with random blurry blotches jumping around, it's the logo that's been removed.
Keep in mind that Open AI is free. There are other AI video programs that cost money, but put out a superior product (and presumably don't have a telltale logo jumping around on the screen). But even with the free program, you must admit these videos are awesomely realistic – and in that realism, they're terrifying. What happens when the video doesn't depict a heroic cat saving a baby? What happens, instead, when kindly Mr. Smith down the road is shown shoplifting from the nearby corner store? Or worse?
"Show me the man and I'll show you the crime" was a chilling statement variously attributed to Stalin or other Soviet-era miscreants. Artificial intelligence offers tools to achieve this in a way the Stalinists could only dream of.
Those cute cat videos aren't so cute after all.
Personally I think A.I. will (or has been) be used for nefarious purposes. Sure, it's all fun and games til someone puts an eye out.
ReplyDeleteI think social media in general can be just as bad. I've seen numerous accounts in my area where people who dislike someone else, will make up elaborate stories about the person they dislike, post it online, and then the person will get death threats and hated on by everyone, even when the story isn't true. This happens in retail a lot too. A customer will get angry they couldn't get something for free, and then they make up huge stories about how certain employees treated them horrible, were racist, sexist, etc and posts this online, and the poor employee gets targeted by threats and hate, when it's all just made up. The internet is a scary place for that. If a person doesn't like you, they can say whatever they want and flame you, and random people will take their side, even if there is no evidence it is true. And now AI can make it worse, they can make up fake videos and share it, and there is pretty much nothing you can do about it. People can ruin lives in an instant, it's alarming.
ReplyDeleteBut a story that sounds fake but actually happened. In a neighboring town a lady got home from shopping with her baby, brought the baby inside and left it still in it's carrier as it was sleeping, and went into the other room, came back and a raccoon had managed to get into the house and was mauling the child. The mom chased off the raccoon which the dad killed the raccoon, but the child had to be airlifted to SLC due to injuries. But as for parents leaving their kids unattended outside or on a porch, in driving to town and through town, I often see babies or super young kids roaming unfenced yards by themselves, no adults in sight, or even kids set up on playpens on the porch unattended in plain sight of the road. I get that was a common thing back in the day, but nowadays, just doesn't seem like a good idea just due to human predators moreso than animals.
I told my wife yesterday that you could no longer trust anything you did not see personally with your own eyes!
ReplyDeleteI've seen those cat/bear/baby thumbnails but have not watched the 'shorts' - I watch very little in its entirety these days. The images seemed both realistic and highly improbable to me; thank you for confirming they are AI generated. As for AI being used for nefarious purposes, it undoubedly has been and will be ubiquitous in the very near future.
ReplyDeleteThey've already rewritten history, remade the movies and posters, and altered the books (those they have not condemned as irredeemably rayciss) for 'problematic' language. Very few people read these days, and most people under 25 live their entire lives online. And they believe everything they see even while knowing how easily it is manipulated. Burn/ban the books, tear down the statues, and alter/remake the movies. Hey presto! Ancient Britons were all black, aside all the inventors and heroic female warriors.
I despise what passes for 'culture' now, and dread what is coming. I can do nothing to stop or change it, although I console myself I've at least made certain my sons are immune to the lies. But that awful future of "Brave New World," "1984," and "Harrison Bergeron" has already been born and is being carefully nurtured by all the'experts' and technocrats who are certain they know what's best for us all.
Much of the videos on you tube are AI now, as are the AI voices. I have a few favorite channels that I watch, but ignore the rest. I, too, dread what is coming. It is downright scary.
ReplyDeleteWell there was nothing realistic for anyone who have ever seen actual animals move (or babies). Also, they do not move like that, ever, when approaching -well, anything. No bear would just gallop to porch.
ReplyDeleteThis is becoming such an uncomfortable trend on social media, and the number of people believing these videos are real is SCARY. KinCa
ReplyDelete