The debate around artificial intelligence takes a new course every other week. While some claim it to be a saving grace, creatives are battling against it to save their livelihoods. Photographers, too, are facing the same challenges, with many encountering ways to ensure their images are not scraped to train generative AI. As a result, apps like Overlai and Cara are being promoted to safeguard the works of the artists. But our collective troubles don’t end here. AI-edited photos are not only corroding the joy of photography but also leading to immense changes in how we remember things.
AI-Edited Photos Plant Fake Memories
A study was recently conducted by Samantha Chan and her team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which was first reported by NewScientist. To test the theory, the team showed 200 people, people of all genders, a set of 24 pictures. This was followed by a small task.
The scientists divided the group into four groups, each with 50 participants. They showed them four different sets of images: originals, AI-edited photos, and AI-generated video of those original pictures or AI-generated clips of the AI-edited photos. The changes in the pictures and videos ranged from removing people to objects, altering the race or gender of the individuals in the images, or even changing the weather.
Later, a questionnaire was given to them about the original picture. About 20% of the people who saw the original picture two times proved our recalling capability is flawed as they remembered the details wrongly. However, 40% of the people who saw AI-generated videos of AI-edited photos had more false memories.
In another study, Chan also conducted a similar research with 200 participants. However, this time, she asked them to watch AI-edited videos of a crime. The participants who saw AI-generated videos of the crime saw significant increase in false memories. In fact, when they tested a week later, the same participants still held on to those false memories, entirely altering their perception of reality.
The Problems with the Democratisation of AI Tools
Photographers are fighting not just stealing their work to train AI that will rob them of their means of sustenance but also will hinder their job. How? If you look at how AI editing is now available on all phones and how scarily realistic it is in some cases, it will likely lead to general mistrust. Pictures by photojournalists and documentary photographers are likely to take a hit. This can also lead to actual images of a crime, especially committed by a white individual over people of color, to be dismissed. That is how often things are portrayed in the media.
Not only that but AI-edited photos and videos also leave a stronger impact. This means if there are false narratives of an issue, people are likely to support the side that they strongly connect to. For instance, so many people bought Donald Trump’s agenda that immigrants consume pets. Now, imagine a powerful like that available for everyone around the world. The lines between reality and fiction will be blurred, with more chances of rampant racism, prejudice, and stereotypes.
As Philip Beaman at the University of Reading, UK, said, editing is part of our lives, but the degree to which memories can be altered is very limited. “What exacerbates it in this current time, which is unique, I think, is that it’s quick and easy to do the AI. Anybody can do it,” he said.
When photography was invented, it was to help us remember things and view them later with nostalgia. However, today, conglomerates are twisting that very motive, threatening both reportage and art in the process. AI-edited photos and videos are, thus, making the only thing that has been helping us recollect our cherished moments a farce. It makes me wonder how family albums will appear a decade down the line.
