MAKE IT, DON’T FAKE IT

Al videos have flooded social media — no one was ready

- STEVEN LEE MYERS STUART A. THOMPSON

A video on TikTok in October appeared to show an American woman being interviewed by a television reporter about food stamps.

The women weren't real. The conversation never happened.

The video was generated by artificial intelligence.

And yet, people seemed to believe this was a real conversation about selling US food stamps for cash, which would have been a crime.

In their comments, many reacted to the video as though it was real. Despite subtle red flags, hundreds vilified the woman as a criminal — some with explicit racism — while others attacked government assistance programmes, just as a national debate was raging over US President Donald Trump's planned cuts to the programme.

Videos like the fake interview, created with OpenAl’s new app, Sora, show how easily public perceptions can be manipulated by tools that can produce an alternative reality with a series of simple prompts.

In the two months since Sora arrived, deceptive videos have surged on TikTok, X, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, according to experts who track them. The deluge has raised alarm over a new generation of disinformation and fakes.

Most of the major social media companies have policies that require disclosure of artificial intelligence use and broadly prohibit content intended to deceive. But those guardrails have proved woefully inadequate for the kind of technological leaps OpenAl’s tools represent.

While many videos are silly memes or cute but fake images of babies and pets, others are meant to stoke the kind of vitriol that often characterises political debate online. They have already figured in foreign influence operations, like Russia's ongoing campaign to denigrate Ukraine.

Researchers who have tracked deceptive uses said the onus was now on companies to do more to ensure people know what is real and what isn’t.