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There's been a lot of talk on HN about generative AI and how it will be weaponized to scam people and politically for propoganda. That reality got here very qui

There's been a lot of talk on HN about generative AI and how it will be weaponized to scam people and politically for propoganda. That reality got here very quickly. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem posted a photo of Nekima Levy Armstrong, a Minnesota civil rights attorney, being arrested at a political protest. A half hour later, the official White House X account posted an altered version in which Armstrong’s face was manipulated to make it appear that she was crying. Wild to see this tech get adopted so fast and so unapologetically used.

miltonlost 9mo ago
If only everyone could have predicted this happen!
jjbinx007 9mo ago
It's already got to the point that if I see an interesting video showing a cute animal doing something or a natural disaster my first thought is "Is this AI?"
- MattDaEskimo 9mo ago
  Makes one wonder what the other, more horrific side of this looks like, and how law enforcement and even begin to separate truth from fiction
  - techterrier 9mo ago
    In this instance, we've already got law enforcement using fiction to obfuscate fact. Probably not long before we see sora style videos of a 'new angle' of a controversial event, showing that the protestor / victim did in face have a gun / deserve it
    - deleted 9mo ago
      [deleted]
    - anon7725 9mo ago
      Since many people are primed for this video to confirm their worldview, it doesn't even need to be that good. It will spread like wildfire, and its debunking won't. Technically, there is no reason why this can't be done today.
  - boothby 9mo ago
    Only, it's members of the federal government overtly spreading disinformation and laughing about it. It will be a miracle if anything is left of the law enforcement and judiciary that would push back in three years' time.
matthewdgreen 9mo ago
There are people on this site who will still turn out to vote for this administration and their allies in Congress. It's wild.
- GrowingSideways 9mo ago
  [dead]
- davidivadavid 9mo ago
  The number of tech or tech-adjacent people that have completely torched their reputation in the last few weeks is staggering. I hope they get publicly shamed.
  - mothballed 9mo ago
    Lol the CEO of Palantir said enthusiastically during an investor conference that it's necessary on occasion to kill his enemies, why would you think tech reputations would get torched? If anything it should be a boon when getting hired for big tech. As the government becomes more fascist and more integrated with industry, these contracts will be more and more important and enthusiastically embracing the anti-domestic-terrorist line will improve reputations even more.
    - PearlRiver 9mo ago
      Many tech bros have always been racist and misogynist.
  - spwa4 9mo ago
    They shamed themselves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsl_sKYywEI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsl_sKYywEI Unfortunately ... it's all of them.
- coldpie 9mo ago
  I don't even know what a realistic plan to fix this looks like. How do you cult de-program 40% of the population of the most powerful country on the planet? Nuremberg-style trials for every single person working under this administration is obviously the base minimum to start to get a handle on this. Anyone who is not pushing for that is not being serious about tackling America's problems. Then what? Extreme anti-trust enforcement and implement wealth caps to prevent the harm from recurring and hope most of the population eventually comes back to planet Earth?
hbarka 9mo ago
Their vulgarity goes beyond tech and are unapologetic about it. They get to do it because mass media fails to call the lies. Over and over.
- zbentley 9mo ago
  > mass media fails to call the lies That can't be all it is: this and other recent, uncontroversially atrocious (when taken out of political context) actions taken by the Trump administration were very widely reported as lies/unconscionable by the vast majority of media outlets large and small. Hell, we're even only having this discussion because Ars Technica, a publication with ten million readers, did journalism about an event. That's not huge in the grander scheme, but it's not tiny either. There's certainly many stupid/corrupt things that news media companies should improve. I just don't think "A.P. News isn't calling $thing out" is the problem here.
  - deleted 9mo ago
    [deleted]
  - hbarka 9mo ago
    Uncle Joe and Aunt Lucy aren’t reading Ars Technica. You know where their eyes and ears are glued. Critical reading is reserved for the HN crowd.
Hamuko 9mo ago
This is 100% within my expectations of how long it would take.
avree 9mo ago
Don't really understand how "AI" ties into this. This administration has been photoshopping and editing pictures long before AI, here's https://paleofuture.com/nofuture/2019/1/21/president-trump-posts-altered-photos-to-facebook-and-instagram-that-make-him-look-thinner https://paleofuture.com/nofuture/2019/1/21/president-trump-p... some examples from 2019 where they used shops to make him thin.
- WickyNilliams 9mo ago
  Yes of course this could've been done in photoshop. But a convincing Photoshop effort takes someone with years of experience working for likely hours. AI can churn out this kind of image in seconds, operated entirely by someone with zero skill or experience. It lowers the bar significantly, increasing the scope and scale of the output. For the same reason a fully automatic weapon is substantively different from a bolt action rifle, despite both being guns. It's also a fundamentally different scenario. Photoshoot-style touchups - likely at the request of the subject himself - for pure vanity, versus doctored images of an unwilling citizen (who presumably hasn't been convicted yet and is therefore considered innocent) as propaganda
mhitza 9mo ago
Remeber my shock, first time reading the following news a couple of years back https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-65757400 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-65757400 where the faces of indian protesters were photoshoped to smile, in order to downplay their protest. Image GenAi, just triviliazes the work of those in corrupt power.
Tadpole9181 9mo ago
Not only did they make her cry, they also darkened her skin.

miltonlost 9mo ago

If only everyone could have predicted this happen!

jjbinx007 9mo ago

It's already got to the point that if I see an interesting video showing a cute animal doing something or a natural disaster my first thought is "Is this AI?"

MattDaEskimo 9mo ago
Makes one wonder what the other, more horrific side of this looks like, and how law enforcement and even begin to separate truth from fiction
- techterrier 9mo ago
  In this instance, we've already got law enforcement using fiction to obfuscate fact. Probably not long before we see sora style videos of a 'new angle' of a controversial event, showing that the protestor / victim did in face have a gun / deserve it
  - deleted 9mo ago
    [deleted]
  - anon7725 9mo ago
    Since many people are primed for this video to confirm their worldview, it doesn't even need to be that good. It will spread like wildfire, and its debunking won't. Technically, there is no reason why this can't be done today.
- boothby 9mo ago
  Only, it's members of the federal government overtly spreading disinformation and laughing about it. It will be a miracle if anything is left of the law enforcement and judiciary that would push back in three years' time.

matthewdgreen 9mo ago

There are people on this site who will still turn out to vote for this administration and their allies in Congress. It's wild.

GrowingSideways 9mo ago
[dead]
davidivadavid 9mo ago
The number of tech or tech-adjacent people that have completely torched their reputation in the last few weeks is staggering. I hope they get publicly shamed.
- mothballed 9mo ago
  Lol the CEO of Palantir said enthusiastically during an investor conference that it's necessary on occasion to kill his enemies, why would you think tech reputations would get torched? If anything it should be a boon when getting hired for big tech. As the government becomes more fascist and more integrated with industry, these contracts will be more and more important and enthusiastically embracing the anti-domestic-terrorist line will improve reputations even more.
  - PearlRiver 9mo ago
    Many tech bros have always been racist and misogynist.
- spwa4 9mo ago
  They shamed themselves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsl_sKYywEI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsl_sKYywEI Unfortunately ... it's all of them.
coldpie 9mo ago
I don't even know what a realistic plan to fix this looks like. How do you cult de-program 40% of the population of the most powerful country on the planet? Nuremberg-style trials for every single person working under this administration is obviously the base minimum to start to get a handle on this. Anyone who is not pushing for that is not being serious about tackling America's problems. Then what? Extreme anti-trust enforcement and implement wealth caps to prevent the harm from recurring and hope most of the population eventually comes back to planet Earth?

hbarka 9mo ago

Their vulgarity goes beyond tech and are unapologetic about it. They get to do it because mass media fails to call the lies. Over and over.

zbentley 9mo ago
> mass media fails to call the lies That can't be all it is: this and other recent, uncontroversially atrocious (when taken out of political context) actions taken by the Trump administration were very widely reported as lies/unconscionable by the vast majority of media outlets large and small. Hell, we're even only having this discussion because Ars Technica, a publication with ten million readers, did journalism about an event. That's not huge in the grander scheme, but it's not tiny either. There's certainly many stupid/corrupt things that news media companies should improve. I just don't think "A.P. News isn't calling $thing out" is the problem here.
- deleted 9mo ago
  [deleted]
- hbarka 9mo ago
  Uncle Joe and Aunt Lucy aren’t reading Ars Technica. You know where their eyes and ears are glued. Critical reading is reserved for the HN crowd.

Hamuko 9mo ago

This is 100% within my expectations of how long it would take.

avree 9mo ago

Don't really understand how "AI" ties into this. This administration has been photoshopping and editing pictures long before AI, here's https://paleofuture.com/nofuture/2019/1/21/president-trump-posts-altered-photos-to-facebook-and-instagram-that-make-him-look-thinner https://paleofuture.com/nofuture/2019/1/21/president-trump-p... some examples from 2019 where they used shops to make him thin.

WickyNilliams 9mo ago
Yes of course this could've been done in photoshop. But a convincing Photoshop effort takes someone with years of experience working for likely hours. AI can churn out this kind of image in seconds, operated entirely by someone with zero skill or experience. It lowers the bar significantly, increasing the scope and scale of the output. For the same reason a fully automatic weapon is substantively different from a bolt action rifle, despite both being guns. It's also a fundamentally different scenario. Photoshoot-style touchups - likely at the request of the subject himself - for pure vanity, versus doctored images of an unwilling citizen (who presumably hasn't been convicted yet and is therefore considered innocent) as propaganda

mhitza 9mo ago

Remeber my shock, first time reading the following news a couple of years back https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-65757400 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-65757400 where the faces of indian protesters were photoshoped to smile, in order to downplay their protest. Image GenAi, just triviliazes the work of those in corrupt power.

Tadpole9181 9mo ago

Not only did they make her cry, they also darkened her skin.