A few weeks ago I saw video of Donald Trump's name being removed from the Kennedy Center. That never happened, at least not then, and not in a public way. The name was allegedly removed this past week, but under concealing tarps hanging from scaffolding in such a way that it could not be seen by the public.
Then yesterday I saw an image of the building restored, with the scaffolding down and the Trump name removed. Not a mark to indicate what had been done. It looked great. Only...in reality, the scaffolding is still up, the tarps are still covering the name. No one has seen it yet.
The world's largest steam locomotive just made its way through Northeastern PA yesterday. Dozens of people took photos and recorded videos. Today I saw some photos that looked...Weirdly composed. TOO perfect. Were they A.I. generated, or A.I. enhanced?
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| What's that guy pointing at? Why is the guy in the green shirt taking a photo of empty tracks instead of the historical train right behind him? |
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| A.I.-enhanced? Or just tweaking colors until the picture looks completely unnatural? |
This morning I saw photos from a historical event: the funeral procession of Ronald Reagan. Nancy Reagan expressing grief.
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| These A.I.-generated images of Paul McCartney, Phil Collins. and Elton John immediately came to mind. |
The list goes on and on. I recently heard about someone who had their photo taken on a trip and posted to social media. The photo gave them a pocket square they never wore, a fancy gold watch they never owned. They didn't ask for these "enhancements." Their cell phone's built-in A.I. assistant added them on its own.
Where are we going with this? Nowhere good. Elections this past month have freely made use of A.I.-generated fake photos and video. By the time the next elections come around, these fakes will be much better. Already we need to doubt the "evidence" presented of past and current events. Soon it may be completely impossible to be certain of anything.
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