Taylor Swift has gone and done what now?! Just kidding, we have to warn you (as you’ve probably already noticed, that these photos are a bit graphic). But these photos are FAKE, yet may be something you might be inclined to believe at first viewing. This drastic example just illustrates the danger of digitally altered images. Not only that, but what some believe is AI driven content. The staff at the blog recently witnessed some examples of this first hand, being able to type in a detailed description of what you’d like to see, and the “photograph” being produced. This type of technology is quite disturbing for several reasons, only ONE of which we’ll put simply as “seeing is believing”. People who possess the power to digitally doctor photographs of anything, can use it for art, to correct mistakes, to amplify a point, or for just straight up malice. When the general public can’t differentiate between what they’re seeing and what someone else wants you to believe, it’s dangerous. That’s just when it’s humans. When this ability is given to an artificial system, one human hand is on the wheel, whilst the AI has the rest of the control.
If you read THIS far down, those photos got your attention, didn’t they? That’s the point. This new style of publication where the subject does not have to have anything to do with the visuals being displayed is some risky business. In the photo below, the stands are filled to brim, yet there’s not a single player on the field. Her facial make up changes several times between the shots, as does the body pain she dawns. As our lead editor quite eloquently put it… “Why you gunna change yo clothes if you already nekked?”. It’s just a mild example of something that become far more dangerous in the future. What if the subject being replicated was NOT globally known? What if the person in certain photos doesn’t have a global reputation, isn’t a household name, and whose character is unfamiliar jury of their peers. It’s easy feeding to the crucible of public opinion. If we were to ask which of two photos was real… A photo of DJ Storm riding a unicorn through a field of broccoli, or DJ Storm surrounded by dozens of bottles of tequila raining down… one of those photos is far easier to believe than the other… But what happens when that distinction is NOT so easy? We need to be aware of the dangers of believing the saying “seeing is believing”… The internet is written in permanent ink.
