So how can you spot this content, and why is it shared in earnest?
Seeing is believing no longer rings true.
This has been an issue ever since the days of early Photoshop fakes.
OpenAI
In early 2024, a wave of images hit Facebook that centered on an odd theme: plastic bottles.
This craze appears to have started within Facebook groups, and many of the statues are religious in nature.
This plays into the way content is disseminated on networks like Facebook.
The more engagement a post gets, the further it spreads.
That said, there are a few basic things it’s possible for you to keep in mind.
Given the state of current technology, AI is far from perfect.
Much of the time, there are problems with images that have been AI-generated.
It can be an uncanny valley effect where faces look inhuman.
In the case of the plastic bottle statues, none of the logos are properly formed.
OpenAI
They all look like vaguely-recognizable brands, but none of them read as youd expect.
The way the bottles intersect in the sculptures often makes no sense.
Weve long been told to question what we read online, particularly on Facebook.
Its time to extend that to visual media as a whole and to maintain a healthy level of skepticism.
CGI has also been extensively used to create convincing but fake online videos.
AI-generated video is a bit different.
Its also a new frontier, one that many people wont think to question.
Weve been Photoshopping images for decades, but video is much harder.
Youll find this option under the Feeds menu by selecting Friends.
Google Images is also inundated with AI-generated images.
Hobby crocheters aresharing tipsabout avoiding misleading patterns that dont exist.
Bloomberg hasa story and quizabout the proliferation of AI-generated images posing as real photographs that appear in Google results.
Sometimes AI-generated images appear alongside searches for famous people and events, potentially distorting reality.
Were on the precipice of an internet thats full to the brim of lies.
This is a web-wide problem, affecting every social web link and platform.
Its worth taking a moment to think about what this means for the future of the internet.
Thedead internet theoryhypothesizes that most of the content and interactions we see online are no longer human.
Even if this isnt currently true, its not hard to imagine a future where it is.
If youre a prolific Facebook user see to it toeducate yourself about common scamsandFacebook Marketplace tips and trickstoo.
