Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

AI is destabilizing 'the concept of truth itself' in 2024 election

washingtonpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 48 posts

Re: AI is destabilizing 'the concept of truth itself' in 2024 election

#21

Post by 4ndrewl »

ActionHank wrote: post #11
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #10

My feeling is that the media including newspapers are the ones destabilizing the concept of truth itself in their reporting. The media have been going out of their way to elevate themselves as the arbiters and gatekeepers of “truth” all the while using their coverages and how they frame the coverages to push people towards their view of the world.

A major function of journalism is to verify news before publishing, the issue is likely due to social media where there are very few mechanisms to correct misinformation.

It's to sell ads no?

Re: AI is destabilizing 'the concept of truth itself' in 2024 election

#23

Post by notaustinpowers »

r0s wrote: post #19

The idea of truth based on recorded media is a boat that sailed away long long ago. People are very used to being deceived by advertising in general and political media especially. The article mentions certain politicians dismissing any media critical of them as AI deepfakes, a claim the article then instantly fact-checks (without irony). Denial and lies are not new in any sense. Fake media is not new, and analog fak…

I believe the concern is that, now, it's incredibly easy to make a very believable lie. It takes skill to Photoshop an image believably, or it takes social weight to push a false story as believable.

But now, AI has democratized these actions. A 15yo with an internet connection can make the fake Biden voice calls in about 10 minutes.

Re: AI is destabilizing 'the concept of truth itself' in 2024 election

#24

Post by r0s »

notaustinpowers wrote: post #23
r0s wrote: post #19

The idea of truth based on recorded media is a boat that sailed away long long ago. People are very used to being deceived by advertising in general and political media especially. The article mentions certain politicians dismissing any media critical of them as AI deepfakes, a claim the article then instantly fact-checks (without irony). Denial and lies are not new in any sense. Fake media is not new, and analog fak…

I believe the concern is that, now, it's incredibly easy to make a very believable lie. It takes skill to Photoshop an image believably, or it takes social weight to push a false story as believable. But now, AI has democratized these actions. A 15yo with an internet connection can make the fake Biden voice calls in about 10 minutes.

Seems like that will simply lead to a huge glut of noise, more quickly and thoroughly desensitizing current and subsequent generations to fakes.

The reason I mention Photoshop is because it is many orders of magnitude more automated than photo editing using previous tools. The social perception of truth wasn't effected despite this new efficiency, because a faster to make lie isn't significantly different from the absolute deluge of lies people deal with every day.

Re: AI is destabilizing 'the concept of truth itself' in 2024 election

#25

Post by lcnPylGDnU4H9OF »

SirMaster wrote: post #22

If people are so worried about this, why aren't important things cryptographically signed? It's not a new technique or anything.

This new world of "maybe AI made it"-everything affords politicians plausible deniability for every statement they make. People would probably start to notice when the "we actually want you to believe this" statements are signed but others are not.

Re: AI is destabilizing 'the concept of truth itself' in 2024 election

#26

Post by avgcorrection »

ActionHank wrote: post #11
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #10

My feeling is that the media including newspapers are the ones destabilizing the concept of truth itself in their reporting. The media have been going out of their way to elevate themselves as the arbiters and gatekeepers of “truth” all the while using their coverages and how they frame the coverages to push people towards their view of the world.

A major function of journalism is to verify news before publishing, the issue is likely due to social media where there are very few mechanisms to correct misinformation.

> A major function of journalism is to verify news before publishing,

Says the News.

Re: AI is destabilizing 'the concept of truth itself' in 2024 election

#27

Post by SirMaster »

lcnPylGDnU4H9OF wrote: post #25
SirMaster wrote: post #22

If people are so worried about this, why aren't important things cryptographically signed? It's not a new technique or anything.

This new world of "maybe AI made it"-everything affords politicians plausible deniability for every statement they make. People would probably start to notice when the "we actually want you to believe this" statements are signed but others are not.

Well, it's really either up to the gov to mandate crypto signatures. Or it's up to the people to declare widely enough that they wont trust anything they see or hear unless the creators do something to prove authenticity.

Re: AI is destabilizing 'the concept of truth itself' in 2024 election

#29

Post by CM30 »

ActionHank wrote: post #11
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #10

My feeling is that the media including newspapers are the ones destabilizing the concept of truth itself in their reporting. The media have been going out of their way to elevate themselves as the arbiters and gatekeepers of “truth” all the while using their coverages and how they frame the coverages to push people towards their view of the world.

A major function of journalism is to verify news before publishing, the issue is likely due to social media where there are very few mechanisms to correct misinformation.

The problem is that this verification/fact checking is often flimsy or nonexistent, even in places where it exists. You don't need a deepfake or AI or whatever to get a story about the US president into the media, you could basically send a random tip off on social media or a few blurry photos of a piece of paper and have a bunch of sites immediately rush out and post articles about it.

It's definitely better for respectable publications than tabloids or random blogs, but still, getting a story covered doesn't take much in the way of convincing evidence in this day and age.

Re: AI is destabilizing 'the concept of truth itself' in 2024 election

#30

Post by fhridhehdibe »

ActionHank wrote: post #11
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #10

My feeling is that the media including newspapers are the ones destabilizing the concept of truth itself in their reporting. The media have been going out of their way to elevate themselves as the arbiters and gatekeepers of “truth” all the while using their coverages and how they frame the coverages to push people towards their view of the world.

A major function of journalism is to verify news before publishing, the issue is likely due to social media where there are very few mechanisms to correct misinformation.

A constant in history is the arbiters of power abusing trust to push their truths. The modern systems aren’t any more honest - they’re just better at making people think they are.

Ultimately this is a pointless argument though. Humans are flawed and can never truly know what is true - we don’t know what we don’t know. Today’s truths (even if arrived upon honestly) may not be tomorrow’s.

Post reply on HN