The Real Problem with Fake News

By Gordon Hopkins It is rare that we recognize a zeitgeist change as it is approaching. Usually we only realize it after the fact. Well, we see one coming now. The AI (artificial intelligence) takeover is almost here.We stand on a precipice. Soon, AI-generated “content” (a generic term for everything from art to smut to music to, unfortunately, news) will inundate the world. No, not just social media and not just the internet. The route between the real world and the internet is not a one-way street. We see what appears on the internet influencing the world everyday.What happens in cyberspace doesn't stay in cyberspace.Contrary to popular opinion, most people understand the internet is filled with lies and propaganda and, if you will forgive the term, fake news. The problem is that most people think they can tell the difference. Unfortunately, that facility people use to distinguish what they trust versus what they think is a lie is called “confirmation bias.”In other words, people believe a story because they already believe it. It has taken a long time and a lot of damage has been done, but there is some evidence to think more and more people are finally beginning to realize this. Unfortunately, this realization is coming about just as AI is about to change the information superhighway into a demolition derby.You think it is bad now? Just wait. When AI begins creating the words and pictures, the fake news problem will grow a thousandfold. Anyone looking for something real, by which I mean a fact verified by a person with a pulse and not an algorithm, will be like searching for a electronic needle in a digital haystack.You can no longer simply read a story or see a picture or watch a video and assume it to be real. The only way to know for sure if something is real is to know the source. Which could prove tricky if the source decides to lie to you.Fortunately, the law may finally be starting to catch up.On Wednesday, April 10, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed legislation requiring that AI-generated content be clearly labeled. That includes text, audio, video, and still images.The measure passed 146 to 54, but it is far from a done deal. It still has to make it through the Senate.Even if it does become law, the hard part comes next. How, exactly do you police something like that?Those little quizzes used by some websites, like CAPTCHA, aren't going to cut it. By the way, I just learned today that CAPTCHA stands for “Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart.”We are going to need something better than to ask people to retype blurry letters to showing a jumble of photos and ask the user to pick out the one with the school bus.

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