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AI-generated 'poverty porn' fake images being used by aid agencies

theguardian.com

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Re: AI-generated 'poverty porn' fake images being used by aid agencies

#131

Post by probably_wrong »

Tycho wrote: post #103

I wonder what is the relative utility of giving donations to some charity that solicits them with ads or calls, vs just doing something obvious like writing a cheque to the local orphanage.

Thinking about it as "utility" is a cornerstone of effective altruists, so you're not alone in wondering that. From that point of view, for the price of one package of flour in Germany I can buy two in Uganda and four in Syria. Assuming that the charity keeps their costs low, writing a check to the local orphanage is a waste because you could be doing much more "good" somewhere else.

But from another POV helping your local orphanage gives you a stronger bond to your local community and contributes to the well-being of the society you live in. By sending your help (aka, money) away you're essentially corroding the pillars holding the nice society you're living in.

Re: AI-generated 'poverty porn' fake images being used by aid agencies

#132

Post by throwaway48476 »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #90
jnovek wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn’t describe it as the correct response, more like “the best one we can think of right now.” Living this way is that it’s really exhausting, saps quite a lot of joy out of life and makes people more lonely. It’s far from optimal and a more sustainable option would be to work our way back to the community trust we used to enjoy just ~30 years ago.

There is an alternative. Remain open - cautiously, but open. This may mean you get scammed. (I mean, be more careful with larger amounts...) But when you get scammed, remain open anyway . Yeah, you can lose some money that way. But the alternative is "really exhausting, saps quite a lot of joy out of life and makes people more lonely", so even losing some money could be a net win overall.

You could also become adept at pattern recognition of low trust corollary behaviors.

Re: AI-generated 'poverty porn' fake images being used by aid agencies

#133

Post by atonse »

kedean wrote: post #56
gampleman wrote: post #49

I don't know how to feel about this entirely. Like I get the whole AI generated images bad angle, but on the other hand as someone running a charity I can see the benefit of not wasting donation money on sending a professional photographer to an actual slum and paying probably tens of thousands of dollars to get good quality photos and instead getting usable pictures for free-ish. When running a charity you need to s…

Think about it from the perspective of a possible benefactor. If they're being lured in with these images at all, there's clearly an emotional element to it. If they start realizing the images weren't real at all, there's a very good chance they will stop donating because you have lied to them. The crux of their support was based on falsehoods. Personally, I'd prefer donating to an organization that isn't trying to u…

I have a feeling this will have exactly that effect of chilling donations. Because I would have this reaction. How would I know the photos are real? It’s not like I’d say no and go away, I might say “I don’t have a time right now to verify this. I’ll come back later” and then forget.

Re: AI-generated 'poverty porn' fake images being used by aid agencies

#134

Post by autoexec »

wmeredith wrote: post #116
autoexec wrote: post #109

I can understand that there are some good arguments for using AI generated pics. Using AI means not having to pay for photographers who'd either have to spend a lot of time taking or staging pictures, and not having to pay for their travel expenses which means that money can be spent on aid instead of marketing. Also it can feel a bit exploitative to photograph vulnerable people, especially children. As long as the i…

Take AI out of the conversation. Now revisit the argument that it's OK for people to make fake pics, testimonials, stories, and videos to solicit donations. I'm pretty sure that's just called a con or perhaps fraud in legal terms.

Would hand drawn illustrations of a starving child or a battered woman be fraud if they were used to help raise money that was going to feed actual starving children or help battered women?

Re: AI-generated 'poverty porn' fake images being used by aid agencies

#135

Post by muddi900 »

stinos wrote: post #55
SkyeCA wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How can you possibly make due diligence when everyone around you is incentivized to lie? You can't and the correct response is a total lack of trust by default because that's the easiest way to protect yourself. They really are out to get you(r money).

> You can't and the correct response is a total lack of trust by default because that's the easiest way to protect yourself. Rather off-topic, but it's funny how this principle applies in the exact same way when it comes to traffic for instance. It is unfortunate it has to be like that, but not trusting any other traffic and assuming they can at any point do the thing you'd least expect them to do is just safer. Espe…

Try navigating the streets of Asia.

I am a firm believer that commuters and pedestrians Urban Asia are suffering from PTSD just by going from point A to point B.

I failed my driving test in the US twice because I kept stopping at green lights. Back home, if you don't do that, you'll die or kill someone.

Re: AI-generated 'poverty porn' fake images being used by aid agencies

#136

Post by A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 »

fluoridation wrote: post #123
mothballed wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can gain a little bit of it back by living in a low population density area. I live in a small enough town that if I screw somebody, my name will be hosed until the day of my funeral. End result is I've left $10s of K of easily pawnable construction materials out for years (sorry any thieves reading, it is gone now) and no one touched it. There are several houses around me that have been abandoned for years, no o…

I don't know if I'd say that every mistake you've ever made being remembered forever is something to be "gained".

Just to be perfectly clear, "every mistake you've ever made being remembered" is already in place. The only difference is that it is used to profile you and sell you more stuff as opposed building a working community, where 'bad members' can be identified and shamed.

Re: AI-generated 'poverty porn' fake images being used by aid agencies

#137

Post by throwaway48476 »

ashanoko wrote: post #101
pessimizer wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What people say to respond to this critique is that high-trust people were always a problem. Low-trust societies have procedures in place that nobody ever considers just skipping because we're both good guys and you're from Boston, too, right? High-trust societies are self-regulating scammers paradises. Filled with people citing Occam's Razor, and affinity fraud. Even worse, for minorities the procedures never get dr…

Trust is a tax , which is low in high thrust societies and high in low thrust societies. All you archieve there costs more, more surveilance, more stress , more guards, more fraud in science, products, services. It naturally appeals to the paranoid subset of society which wants to sell itself as a protector service.

Current economic prosperity is coasting on the effects of high trust society. When the trust tax increases the economy reverts like in South Africa.

Re: AI-generated 'poverty porn' fake images being used by aid agencies

#138

Post by SoftTalker »

sensanaty wrote: post #113
sigmoid10 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can be beguiled by random images from an unknown solicitor to make rash financial decisions, the root of the problem is probably sitting in front of the screen. "A fool and his money are soon parted" is not a new thing, it's just easier to accomplish than ever before thanks to the dopamine conditioned internet and AI content generation. These victims don't need new legal layers of trust, they need a social med…

I have met multiple cybersecurity experts, and they really were experts and in general very intelligent and knowledgeable people, that have fallen for very obvious scams. One of them was one of those gift card scams which in my eyes is possibly the most obvious one. I myself have almost fallen for a well crafted phishing attack, the only reason I never ended up putting in my card details was that I was technical enou…

What I've observed is that normally cautious people will fall for scams when the scam aligns with something expected. Maybe you've just paid your water bull and you get an email that says there's something wrong with your payment. Could just be random chance but it seems related to something you've just done so your normal instinct of "not giving information if I didn't initiate the process" might not be triggered.

Re: AI-generated 'poverty porn' fake images being used by aid agencies

#139

Post by throwaway48476 »

raincole wrote: post #87
pessimizer wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What people say to respond to this critique is that high-trust people were always a problem. Low-trust societies have procedures in place that nobody ever considers just skipping because we're both good guys and you're from Boston, too, right? High-trust societies are self-regulating scammers paradises. Filled with people citing Occam's Razor, and affinity fraud. Even worse, for minorities the procedures never get dr…

But trust is necessary for the society to run efficiently. High-trust environments are more efficient. Technically, we can read the banks' financial reports, the executives' background checks, the video recordings of their gold reserves... to decide which banks are less likely to run away with your money. But no one wants to live in such a place.

All the reports and checks are worthless ina low trust society because they are equally as corruptable.

It's like the blockchain people trying to push blockchain for inventory management.

Re: AI-generated 'poverty porn' fake images being used by aid agencies

#140

Post by intrasight »

jnovek wrote: post #73
SkyeCA wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How can you possibly make due diligence when everyone around you is incentivized to lie? You can't and the correct response is a total lack of trust by default because that's the easiest way to protect yourself. They really are out to get you(r money).

I wouldn’t describe it as the correct response, more like “the best one we can think of right now.” Living this way is that it’s really exhausting, saps quite a lot of joy out of life and makes people more lonely. It’s far from optimal and a more sustainable option would be to work our way back to the community trust we used to enjoy just ~30 years ago.

We will look back on this age as the one of the uncanny valley before smart screens and speakers arrived that auto-detect and warn about AI generated content.
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