While the technology is amazing, I am a bit bothered by all these picture and video modifying algorithms.
The issue is that we can't know what's real any more. It used to be if you saw a video or a photo depicting an event you could be pretty sure that what you're looking at actually happened.
Now, if you see a video of a prominent politician saying something awful in your twitter timeline (or whatever), they may have actually never said anything remotely close. It could be a completely fictional video that looks perfectly realistic[0], made by some teen in Macedonia.[1]
I realize photography and video have always been used to trick people into thinking things that aren't true, but this technology enables nuclear-grade deception.
I am wondering: is there a use-case for such an algorithm that is practical and good for the world?
PS: I know an eye-rolling algo is quite innocuous but I've had this thought on my mind about these in general and needed to air it out.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohmajJTcpNk
[1] https://www.wired.com/2017/02/veles-macedonia-fake-news/
The issue is that we can't know what's real any more. It used to be if you saw a video or a photo depicting an event you could be pretty sure that what you're looking at actually happened.
Now, if you see a video of a prominent politician saying something awful in your twitter timeline (or whatever), they may have actually never said anything remotely close. It could be a completely fictional video that looks perfectly realistic[0], made by some teen in Macedonia.[1]
I realize photography and video have always been used to trick people into thinking things that aren't true, but this technology enables nuclear-grade deception.
I am wondering: is there a use-case for such an algorithm that is practical and good for the world?
PS: I know an eye-rolling algo is quite innocuous but I've had this thought on my mind about these in general and needed to air it out.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohmajJTcpNk [1] https://www.wired.com/2017/02/veles-macedonia-fake-news/