Brad Pitt vs. Tom Cruise vs. You
This week there’s a viral video of Brad Pitt fighting Tom Cruise on top of a building, fists flying, feet kicking, punches given and punches taken. What this is is an AI creation. One you or me or the other countless viewers could never, in the past we once inhabited, tell was not real. If seeing is believing — and it probably still is — we’re in trouble. A brave new world of trouble.
Because now the virtual world will look every bit as real as the one you once knew. For awhile the gullible will take every photo, video and political interview as gospel, those are the actual people, they saw it with their own two eyes, same as they did with every clickbait ‘news’ story. But eventually it will dawn on them — and us too — that none of this is certain. Everything will be suspect. You won’t necessarily believe your own eyes. Or your ears. That song that sounds like Dylan, maybe not….
The actors and screenwriters who watched Tom and Brad duke it out on an urban highrise rooftop are just the canaries in the deep hole where reality dropped below the ground. Their jobs will be the first casualties but not the last. AI can duplicate anyone’s voice, now it can generate anyone’s doppleganger. That phone call you got from your best friend? That message on Instagram from the President? Maybe it’s not him.
If you distrusted mainstream media before, hoo boy, you’re going to love the next wave. No need to believe anything but what you want to believe. The rest is bogus B.S., fake news, propaganda, no point even trying to sort fact from fiction. For the people or the countries who want to sow misinformation, what a godsend! Welcome to the anarchy of ideas. By the way, neither Brad or Tom won the fight. AI did.
Tags: AI is Here, Pictures Worth Not Too Many Words, Reality in AI