Pandora's AI Box: The Box is a Grey Area Only Getting Bigger

I am not sure reasonable people saw this coming. I am also sure reasonable people saw this coming a mile away.

As it tends to happen, humanity rushes into new technology before we can understand the consequences and ramifications of that tech. This has happened at every stage of human evolution. This is happening now with #ArtificialIntelligence in the form of apps/programs like #ChatGpt, #MidJourney, #Dalle2, etc.

We are currently seeing a massive uptake in the utilization of #AI based tech throughout society, yet more specifically within tech based professionals (you know, the work from anywhere crew). Some of those data points are below.

That said, I want to use this space to talk about something a bit more murky and dark. Something that, I would wager, the vast majority of people don't spend time thinking about, yet, at the same time, a good portion of people are actively involved in.

I want to use this space to talk about the unintended and intended consequences of AI technologies and #machinelearning technologies behind #deepfakes.

The Grey Line is Getting Wider

In a world where #deepfaketechnology is becoming more advanced, more deeply embedded in everyday creative and technical pursuits, and more realistic/harder to spot, what happens when intended consequences of deep fake technology - channels like Shamook and CTRL Shift Face - generally used for creative fun, evolve into the natural progression of the unintended - deep fake adult content?

What happens is the grey line between right, wrong, legal, and illegal begins to widen.

Right now, if you search for Margot Robbie in Google, you get served with 369,000,000 results. Likewise, if you flip over to Google Images, you get served with an endless scroll of Margot Robbie in public, on film, doing interviews etc.

Moreover, Robbie began her film career in 2008. That means for 15 years, she has been on screen. In those fifteen years, there are hours of her face, facial expressions, body, movements, speaking patterns, etc.

Take all this into combination and it isn't hard to see how an intended consequence of deep fake and machine learning technologies like #Wombo, #FaceApp, #ReFace, all using #neuralnetwork training, nets out in adult content of Margot Robbie.

Before clicking this Google search link, I warned you: NSFW.

Do not be fooled: this is happening. This scenario is happening right now.

The question now becomes not if this is happening, but what can be done about it?

With the grey line of right and wrong getting wider-and-wider, how does a society or a single person, wrap their head around the quickness of which we are, technologically, moving at and if anything can be done to A) make sense of the ever quickening pace and B) apply human morality, systemic laws, societal constrains to ensure both famous and unknown persons do not get hurt in the process?

Legal? Illegal? Where is the Line?

The truth is, no one knows.

It seems, for the time being, anyone who wishes to create non-consenual deepfake adult content run the risk of prosecution when and if laws quicken to meet the current demand.

But, here is the catch: if machine learning and AI tools can create a world of non-consensual deepfake adult content, is that content #art or can/will it be deemed #freespeech by those who create it? Due to that classification, how can it be prosecuted in a U.S. court of law falling under the 1st amendment?

Some Questions Society Needs to Struggle With

1. If the images generated - moving or static - are based on someone yet not actually an image - moving or static - of that person, is it crime?
2. Is the creation of such material illegal if only the person who creates it, views/keeps it?
3. Is the creation of such material illegal only if the person shares it a a single or wider audience?
4. Is the creation of such material illegal at the point of creation because creation used public servers to generate?
5. Does the material, based on someone but not actually someone, due to its graphic content fall under the U.S. Privacy Act of 1974 or does it fall under a wider reading of the 14th Amendment?
6. Is there a difference in "fan fiction" stories depicting a favorite celebrity in non-consenual story lines vs. AI generated deep fake scenarios?
7. Is there a difference in the creation of what is visually seen in images - static or moving - vs. that of the written word?

I don't know. I have no clue and I don't believe, society as a whole, has any idea either.

These things are happening, they aren't hard to find. They are the wild west of "content" creation, and the laws governing their legality are not adept enough yet to pass judgement one way or the other.

So, I ask, before you jump into the fray, before you create the image, understand what you are doing. Understand the world you are jumping into and the unintended world around it.

“There has been a lot of serious discussion about artificial intelligence (AI : a computer program that can make its own decisions), whether we need to further develop AI or limit it. Some think we should carry on with enthusiasm; Some feel threatened already; Some don't even care, or don't understand. The variety of responses amongst human toward AI itself has already made me so worry.

I think for the best of human interest, if AI development is already too difficult to stop, well then at least human must have full control over AI fail-safe mechanism.

Scary version, AI has read this quote and anticipated it already."

― Toba Beta, Master of Stupidity

“They gave Pandora a box. Prometheus begged her not to open it. She opened it. Every evil to which human flesh is heir came out of it.

The last thing to come out of the box was hope. It flew away.”

― Kurt Vonnegut, Timequake

Have any thoughts on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep fakes? Feel free to drop me a line on LinkedIN or shoot me an email.

Note: all opinions within this article are my own and do not reflect the opinions of the agency I work for, unless otherwise quoted.