A Post Truth World

The technology community is expressing concern over "deep fakes," videos and even biometric data that is generated using advanced artificial intelligence techniques. James Rundle of the WSJ Pro Artificial Intelligence Daily Brief writes:

The use of AI to synthesize and manipulate increasingly realistic images poses a growing threat to national security, an FBI official warns. In fact, such video and imagery will soon be indistinguishable from reality ...

Deepfake technology is getting so good, it soon may pose a true threat to national security, FBI official warns. The FBI is worried that AI presents challenges to national security, particularly in the form of fraudulent videos created to mimic public figures. “As the AI continues to improve and evolve, we’re going to get to a point where there’s no discernible difference between an AI-generated video and an actual video,” said Chris Piehota, executive assistant director of the FBI’s science and technology division. He spoke at a WSJ Pro Cybersecurity Symposium in San Diego last week.

Really??? Deepfakes use AI to overlay a person’s likeness onto existing images or video, James Rundle reports for WSJ Pro. The technology can show people saying or doing something they never said or did. It also can be used to create realistic images of people who don't exist.

Artificial fingerprints. The FBI has conducted laboratory tests using deepfakes and other techniques to generate artificial personas, which have such high degrees of verisimilitude to real people that they can even pass some measures of biometric authentication, Mr. Piehota said.

Undermining elections. Such AI-enhanced threats can undermine public confidence in democratic institutions even if they are proven false, says Suzanne Spaulding, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Deepfakes for sale. The Washington Post reported that marketing and design companies have begun selling images of artificially generated people that can be used for promotional materials or used to create fake social-media profiles.

Rundle quotes Suzanne Spaulding, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. who states:

“It really hastens our move towards a post-truth world, in which the American public becomes like the Russian population, which has really given up on the idea of truth, and kind of shrugs its shoulders. People will tune out, and that is deadly for democracy."

Heh ... a post truth world ... That got me to thinking about the current state of American politics and the main stream media hamsters who supposedly report it.

Based on events of the past few years, truth no long matters. In fact, the media, who once helped the public sort out truth from lies, is now among the most prolific perpetrators of untruths. The hamsters promulgated the Russia collusion hoax; they continue to 'report' the "fine people" hoax; they called a high school student a "racist" when he was nothing of the sort; they uncritically reported that a respected judge was a member of a rape gang in his teens; they made countless "errors" that always seemed to benefit the Democrat narrative, and now, they push an impeachment narrative for "crimes" that are at worst, a minor exercise in bad political judgement, and more likely, trumped-up accusations that would NEVER be levied against a Democrat president.

Yeah, deep fakes generated by artificial intelligence apps are a threat, but the deep fake news that is disseminated daily by an unprofessional, biased media and their Democrat masters represents an even greater threat to democracy.