It appears that “real content”, that is, content not generated by AI also referred to as “AI Slop” might be fighting back. And this is something we all need to do.
For example, this morning I received notification that YouTube had “de-monetized” some popular animation channels that relied on AI.
In effect YouTube took away the eligibility for ads on these channels.
And just the other day, YouTube actually removed entirely a whole bunch of “AI Slop” channels.
YouTube are saying not all content that uses AI tools is automatically demonetized under current policies, however changes in classification systems can affect eligibility from one update to the next.
In an entirely different area, on the 17th February, a celestial phenomenon occurred over the Antarctic called an Annular Solar Eclipse. This happens when the Moon lies directly between the Sun and Earth but is at a point in its orbit where it’s slightly farther from Earth, so it doesn’t completely cover the Sun.
This creates a bright ring of sunlight around the Moon’s silhouette.
Of course, photos of the event suddenly appeared all over social media, but the truth was exposed, by those who know, the majority of these were simply also AI generated nonsense. You see, only a handful of people at Antarctic based research stations and scientific instruments on satellites actually saw the eclipse!
Consequently, “real” scientists were very quick to debunk these images.
But it goes to show just how dangerous the use of AI for imagery can be. The type of garbage that Trump trots out is what most people will probably see, but obviously, it has got to the stage that nefarious uses could be used to trap people through fraud or other means, so it pays to stay on your guard.
The potential for AI in the real world is enormous, but I think that there is a problem in not enough people understand what uses there may be. To illustrate this to a degree, around 18 months ago I was invited to a launch in Sydney for a major laptop manufacturer which had released some ‘AI aware laptops.
And what did they show these laptops doing? Creating pictures of cats or turning images of people into cat images in real time.
Yep. Real world use of AI, not.
Personally, I am of the belief in the old maxim if it looks to good to be true it probably is – it never fails to stagger me so many people get caught out with online-type scams.
AI is going to lead to an increase in this I am guessing.
Which is one reason we should all kick back against it, especially in the creative world.
Caption to image: Is it real or AI? (This one is real)