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Deepfake Watch 25
POP! Is That The GEN AI Bubble? | Deepfake Watch
Browser View | August 09, 2024 | Subscribe
This hype moved so fast, you may have felt you missed a lot by simply blinking. But if you look past the extol, you’ll see a growing pile of trash - the reality of the ‘content’ being spewed by easily accessible gen AI tools.
Sure, it may have made some tasks easier - if you’re a data scientist wading through large datasets, you may argue that it’s a mighty damn tool in your kit. If you’re a novice coder trying to make an app, you might agree with the data scientist. And you’d especially agree if you’re trying to make a quick buck through crappy content for engagement, or trying to flood the internet with spams and scams - business is a-boomin’, cousin!
So what’s going with the gen AI industry? Some believe it’s a big bubble, and you may hear the POP soon.
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The scourge of AI content on Meta platforms
I joined Facebook and Instagram primarily to see updates from my friends, family and the creators of my choice. But lately I’m seeing more and more of this five-second-prompt-engineered rubbish - images of Marvel superheroes dressed as saffron-clad Indian monks, Harry Potter characters as Sicilian mafiosos, limbless war veterans, or shrimp Jesus… the list goes on.
404 Media’s Jason Koebler dug in and found out just how lucrative it is to spam the internet with such content - a single image can earn you hundreds of dollars through Facebook’s Creator Bonus Program.
Koebler set up his own ‘slop shop’, by following a few simple steps. If you’re unsure as to how to set this up, no worries there! There is a growing fraternity of influencers on YouTube who can help you set up your own spam store.
And Facebook’s recommendation algorithm is more than happy to help. After boosting disinformation and hate speech on the platform, it has found its new baby - ripe for engagement - in AI-generated content.
According to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg - AI is the new shit, and it's here to stay.
Speaking to Nvidia’s Jensen Huang a few weeks ago, he said, “With generative AI, I think we’re going to quickly move into this zone where, not only is the majority of the content that you see today on Instagram just recommended to you from stuff that’s out there in the world that matches your interests… I think in the future a lot of this stuff is going to be created with [generative AI] tools, too.”
Scientists, doctors find themselves in deepfake scams
A recent report by Nature highlights how South African urologist Kgomotso Mathabe found a deepfake video of herself selling a fake drug to cure erectile dysfunction.
The video directed users to provide their banking details and make a payment for the non-existent drug on a scam website, leading to financial loss. Mathabe eventually started getting threats from people who paid and never received the drug.
Earlier this year, BOOM’s Shefali Srivastava reported on how public figures in India have been similarly deepfaked to sell fake diabetes cures on Facebook.
📖 Read: Scientists are falling victim to deepfake AI video scams — here’s how to fight back | Nature
Jeannie Paterson, a law researcher at the University of Melbourne, tells Nature that to avoid a professional and reputational risk from such scams, scientists should contact their employers and the regulatory body of their profession, beyond reporting the scam on the platform it was shared on. She also urges the victims to contact the authorities, especially if their deepfakes have been used to commit fraud.
The AI Bubble
All these scams and spams may already be an indication that something is amiss about this AI hype.
The AI industry is drawing in hundreds of billions of dollars of investments, with the promise of delivering a massive revolution, ushering in the next era of human civilisation.
A recent report by Matteo Wong for The Atlantic reveals how top investors in the industry are increasingly concerned about whether such humongous funding will eventually pay off.
Current uses of gen AI mostly apply in accelerating existing tasks, and it’s expected to take on tasks that could not be performed before, in order to generate significant revenue.
Industry leader OpenAI made a loss of $540 million in 2022, which can grow up to ten times, over $5 billion this year, according to The Information.
Meanwhile, serious concerns have been voiced about its CEO and the poster boy for the gen AI industry, Sam Altman.
Gary Marcus, founder of Geometric Intelligence, and former head of Uber’s AI lab, had testified before US lawmakers along with Altman in May 2023, believing the latter to be genuine in his concerns around the risks posed by AI, and the regulatory measures required.
In a recent column for The Guardian, Marcus wrote that Altman’s claims about his financial stakes in OpenAI, and his push for regulations, were both misleading.
“Altman wasn’t telling the full truth. He didn’t own any stock in OpenAI, but he did own stock in Y Combinator, and Y Combinator owned stock in OpenAI. Which meant that Sam had an indirect stake in OpenAI, a fact acknowledged on OpenAI’s website. If that indirect stake were worth just 0.1% of the company’s value, which seems plausible, it would be worth nearly $100m,” Marcus wrote.
He adds that while Altman claims to push for regulations around AI, “behind closed doors, his lobbyists keep pushing for weaker regulation, or none at all.”
“The irony is that the biggest threat to AI today may be the AI companies themselves; their bad behaviour and hyped promises are turning a lot of people off,” Marcus writes, foreboding the potential explosion of the generative AI bubble at the hands of its very leaders.
Generative AI is definitely not going anywhere though, argues Sharon Goldman for the Fortune magazine. She adds that as funds dry up and the payoffs don't arrive, the hype will die, claiming some victims in the process, like with the dot-com crash. But we’ll still have our ChatGPTs.
Have you been a victim of AI?
Have you been scammed by AI-generated videos or audio clips? Did you spot AI-generated nudes of yourself on the internet?
Decode is trying to document cases of abuse of AI, and would like to hear from you. If you are willing to share your experience, do reach out to us at [email protected]. Your privacy is important to us, and we shall preserve your anonymity.
About Decode and Deepfake Watch
Deepfake Watch is an initiative by Decode, dedicated to keeping you abreast of the latest developments in AI and its potential for misuse. Our goal is to foster an informed community capable of challenging digital deceptions and advocating for a transparent digital environment.
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