Remember when the creepy videos of a fake Tom Cruise playing golf or performing a magic trick circulated on the web in March 2021?
Belgian special effect master Chris Umé, shocked the world as he wanted to warn us all on the very possible abuses resulting from the future wrong use of AI.
Then there was this funny app Deep Nostalgia enabling us to revive the dead… The app has been developed by MyHeritage, an Israel based company specializing in DNA testing and recreational genealogy. This is a company which stores very sensitive genetic data from millions of users, and therefore inducing a potential data breach risk.
Today, Bruce Willis, suffering from a neurological disorder affecting his speech, is the first living actor to sell his rights to enable a "digital twin" to be used for shooting new movies or TV ads. We understand that Bruce Willis' family will benefit from this outfall of royalties.
Many would think this is über cool to be able to see more performances of this Hollywood legend, but the implications are more complexed, and borderline scary for the future of the movie industry, of marketing, advertising and our societies in general.
The danger comes from the inability most people will have to distinguish reality from complete virtuality, total fiction and fake news at a level never yet observed.
We already have Scammers Deepfake Crypto Exec to Steal Money From People
So what will be next?
Totally fake politicians claims? Fake government announcements? Deepfake influencers promoting 100% fake products or services? Where will be the red line?
Our democracies are already at risk today with the difficulty to balance freedom of speech with online bullying and fake news, but in 4-5 years these AI technologies will become readily available to non-experts, to basic hackers, and to you and me…
Read the excellent article by Tiffany Hsu in the NY Times as this is already happening now : https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/04/technology/tiktok-deepfakes-disinformation.html
Therefore consumer protection associations, corporate and government bodies, mainstream and social media moderation teams, educators need to work on new legal frames, to make sure these fantastic tools remain within an ethical arena, and that consumers, citizens and people in general are properly educated about this new technological prowess and know how to distinguish truth from a pure distortion of reality.
What’s your sentiment about this trend?
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