“I thought online fakes would cause an INFOCALYPSE. Turns out hoaxes and lies have always been with us. The internet just gave them a wider audience.”
Alex Hern - The Guardian
infocalypse
noun
- this uncomfortable blend of information and apocalypse nevertheless describes a possible near future where AI created fake news makes it impossible to distinguish fact from fiction.
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Synthetic media, also known as AI-generated media, generative media, personalized media, and colloquially as deepfakes, is a catch-all term for the artificial production, manipulation, and modification of data and media by automated means, especially through the use of artificial intelligence algorithms, such as for the purpose of misleading people or changing an original meaning.
In 2019, voice cloning technology was used to successfully impersonate a chief executive’s voice and demand a fraudulent transfer of €220,000. The case raised concerns about the lack of encryption methods over telephones as well as the unconditional trust often given to voice and to media in general.
Starting in November 2019, multiple social media networks began banning synthetic media used for purposes of manipulation in the lead-up to the 2020 US Presidential Election.
Sources:
Timothy C. May — How will privacy and anonymity be attacked?
Anastasia Goodstein — “Will AI Replace Human Creativity?”
Kaveh Waddell, — “Welcome to our new synthetic realities”
Patrick Gensing — “Deepfakes: Auf dem Weg in eine alternative Realität?”
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SYNONYMS
information pollution, information soup, information warfare, the infodemic, deepfakes
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Practice OWAD in a conversation, say something like:
“Nina Schick’s new book ‘Deepfakes: The Coming INFOCALYPSE' is a must-read for anyone concerned about the corrosion of our information ecosystem."
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