This week’s blog is not my usual style but bear with me. I have something at stake here. As a creative, an author, and a blogger, I have growing concerns about AI. Just yesterday, I saw that Tom Hanks is suing a dental product company that used AI to recreate HIS voice, HIS image, and HIS mannerisms, without HIS permission to sell their products on Social Media. It was uncanny how close they got to the ‘real’ person.
Unless lawsuits are launched NOW by celebrities and politicians suing people for creating AI of their images and voices, laws won’t be put into place to protect individuals.
Although AI can be innocuous fun and it can be of help, I also see the potential for great harm. Trolls and hate groups could easily create content pretending to be the target of their hate, making it sound and look like their targets are saying things they never said. The ability to create misleading sound bites has been there forever but AI is taking this to a new level.
Jess, from Roots and Refuge, one of my favourite YouTube channel creators, speaks of how AI-generated content is flooding search engines, pushing REAL bloggers, REAL creatives, and REAL information written by real people doing real research down so it’s hard for us to find.
Here is Jess’s video found on Roots and Refuge. “Are we losing access to real information”
Jess is NOT a conspiracy hunter or a fear-mongering media persona looking for more social media subscribers. she’s a realist, level-headed, and looks for solutions rather than focusing on the problems. She’s a gardener and a small business entrepreneur.
My alarm bells are starting to sound as well. I am in the middle of switching web host providers for my two websites. I am VERY happy I am switching – as just this week my old provider happily informed me that they are offering AI platforms that will automatically create ‘content’ for my website. They are quite proud of the fact that AI-created content can blend seamlessly with my current content. As a writer, I find their sense of pride disturbing.
Now, there have been human copywriters for years who just write content for websites that know how to use target words to get their client’s websites ranked higher on Google, but this is different.
Do your research! Go to the verified accounts of people you follow, go to their websites, read their books, and watch/listen to their entire podcasts before believing that they’ve suddenly gone rogue. If someone sends you a damning soundbite or video clip of someone – ask that someone to find the WHOLE sermon/article/video/podcast and send it to you – rather than just a soundbite or video clip.
Is it real or is it fake? AI has great potential to be of help but it has the potential of doing great harm. Don’t be a lazy consumer of information.
©2023 Katherine Walden