AI is the New Deepfake

My husband plays around with ChatGPT. Mostly he uses it to amuse himself and the boys. He’s had it write toddler-appropriate bedtime stories featuring the X-Men and a rap about potty training in the style of Jay Z. The results made me laugh, but if I were Disney or JayZ’s lawyers, I wouldn’t be too worried just yet. No one will confuse “We bought a potty chair. It’s cool and blue // My son likes to sit and go number two.” with an actual lyric from Jay.

Tech news is a constant cycle of excitement and panic; this is artificial intelligence’s moment. Every day I see new articles about the potential of AI to change the world and/or destroy humanity. Since AI has long been a reliable villain in science fiction, the panic feels especially familiar. Because we all know the beats of the story. (“I’m sorry, Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.”) And the notion that AI will eventually turn against the people who created it is embedded in our collective pop cultural literacy.

Part of the panic is that bad actors will use AI to create and amplify disinformation. Because you don’t have to be a technologist to imagine how that would work and because it’s probably already happening. I also have a sense of déjà vu because folks were having an eerily similar freakout about deepfakes just a few years ago.