42 Comments
User's avatar
Steve Thurston's avatar

I’m glad I am not about to graduate from college with a liberal arts degree. The anxiety these kids must be experiencing after piling up debt or spending their parents’ money only to find that there are no jobs waiting for them.

John Droz's avatar

Steve: Yes that would be a concern. On the other hand if they had been trained to be Critical Thinkers, they would easiy adapt.

Jai T's avatar

Cold-hearted orb that rules the night

Removes the colours from our sight

Red is grey and yellow, white

But we decide which is right

And which is an illusion

-- The Moody Blues, 1967

And which, damnit, could well be an illusion

-- The Moody Blues, edit 2026

John Droz's avatar

Jai: I'm a big fan of the Moody Blues, so TY fot the reference...

Paul M Kennedy's avatar

Dr. Droz,

Will AI get so good that we won't believe our lying eyes someday?

Paul

John Droz's avatar

Paul: Yes.

Christine T.'s avatar

I've seen a lot of these types of videos on youtube. It's usually for promoting a product using an image of a person but you know it's not them because the sound is not quite right.

In these generated videos that you posted, you could tell by the colours and then with the mouth movements not matching the words that it was not real. If this gets good enough to get past this, it will be difficult for folks to tell what's truth and what is not.

However, I watched something from a host recently who said that videos have been put out which show him but the topics and comments are not what he would have said or believes. I think that we will have to use our critical thinking when watching a video to determine whether it's real or not based on what we already know of that person. Does it line up with their previous statements and beliefs, etc?

Don Runkle's avatar

John…I love your Grok videos. This is exactly why I’m enthusiastic about AI platforms becoming the pedagogy for K-12 academic education…as an important part of overall education. As you know I also agree that AI requires Critical Thinking more than ever.

Dana Banov's avatar

Wow... it's magical, depending on the intentions because the understanding of reality becomes malleable. Turning a photograph into a video with sound & movement can be fun, but with deceptive intentions it could be evil.

A less complex, natural world is all the more appealing, as a totally "wired world" would also demand unfathomable amounts of electrical energy for the wired-up billions on the planet.

Peter Salonius's avatar

John ..... you recommended ALTER AI a while back ; I have used it often since and found its answers very thorough and ON THE MONEY when dealing with subjects that I am a student of.

John Droz's avatar

Peter: TY for the feedback. Alter is very strong in assessing subjective matters (e.g., the best of something). This version of Grok is very different.

Jai T's avatar

One small step for man.

One giant leap for the creation of video deep fakes?

So how long before, when we depart this world, do we leave behind modern day audio animatronic versions of ourselves? Give the company making these a few photo albums, old home movies, modern videos and any video recordings made in advance expressly for this purpose and get back a life like talking and moving replica, still fully capable of attending holiday dinners, or in the case of future Bidenesque presidents, performing their job while the original "mold" is playing with crayons. Better still, tap into the NSA database of recordings of every electronic communication in which you ever engaged, replete with satellite captured identification of your gait, and you get the deluxe model. Or maybe the bad guys do and you're still alive! Buckle up as they say.

John Droz's avatar

Jai T: Good questions and the answers are anybody's guess.

Nadia Nichols's avatar

Scares me to death. Nothing we see online can ever be considered 100% real again. We must assume it's potentially contrived by AI. Yet the courts are admitting video as evidence in some trials. I expect this will be extremely short lived.

Jai T's avatar

Occasionally when marveling at AI's power when using it, I pause to ponder how different an I from the fly enjoying the nectar in a sundew plant.

John Droz's avatar

NN: It is concerning based on its power...

Mike Dee's avatar

AI might be entertaining, I don't know. But the grim reality if AI is that like ANY technology, the early adopters will be those who use it for evil - mis/disinformation, blackmail, crime, etc. If I was to make the laws, I would hold the AI company and people who publish AI-based material jointly liable for any civil or criminal damages resulting from it's use.

John Droz's avatar

Mike: A noble thought, but 0% chance of happening.

Ed Reid's avatar

Divergencde from reality used to be called insanity. Now it's called creativity. Progress happens. ;-)

Amy A.'s avatar

Elaine is beautiful, as is your family (and friends!) and that stunning area in the Adirondacks…wow!

AI concerns me deeply…I’d like to return to about 100 yrs ago and live a simpler life…

Grateful God sits firmly on His throne…

John Droz's avatar

Amy: Yes, if only we were God. Since that is not an option, we need to know how to play the hand we were dealt...

AJR's avatar

“especially nefarious ones.”

Which is where the danger will be generated by / from.

“He who controls the weather controls the world.”

Same idea applies here except, how can we put this “genie” back in the bottle once it’s unleashed?

Or can we?

Technology is great, I love technology. Humanity’s greatest threat will be “who controls the technology and the weather.”

John Droz's avatar

AJR: IMO it is much like the invention of a gun. It can be good for getting food, and for protecting us from wild animals — or bad people. But in the wrong hands, it is very bad.

John Shanahan's avatar

This is an amazing AI tool that can and will be used for good and bad purposes, and to bend reality for countless purposes.

Thanks John Droz for finding and presenting this AI editing development.

That is not new. Nature and people do creates things like this all the time,

Dana H Saylor Sr.'s avatar

Will we ever be sure again what is fact or fiction?

John Droz's avatar

Dana: Indeed it will be more difficult to segregate fact from fiction. Again, this is where Critical Thinking is of extreme importance.

Jai T's avatar

"AI Discerner" - perhaps a future growth occupation

Ed Reid's avatar

The picture that used to be "worth a thousand words" maybe ain't worth so much now.

I can imagine turning a "mostly peaceful demonstration" into a neighborhood block party.

John Droz's avatar

Ed: Yes we are moving a big step away from what is reality...

Anne's avatar

Well the womens mouths look very peculiar and don't match the words being said so it'll be some time before we move away from reality.

John Droz's avatar

Anne: That is a small detail, and that ill likely be fixed in a few months.

Anne's avatar

It's not a small detail as it makes it look like the fake that it is and AI have had this problem for years so it's not looking likely that it will be fixed in a few months

John Droz's avatar

Anne: I don't think you have been closely following AI development.

Anne's avatar

Well I do know that the claim that AI will think for itself is bullshit and it also won't make conventional medicine any better as that whole model is made to keep people sick and on medication.

Mike Crowley's avatar

If devices such as this can 'bend' reality. Then it then begs the question, 'What then is reality?'.

John Droz's avatar

Mike: At this point they are advertising that they are making up what's in your imagination — which is different from reality. The difficulty will be when there is no such notice...

Mike Crowley's avatar

Yes, an 'imagined' scenario becomes the basis of thought. (a lie) Your world becomes confused and frustrated. You have trouble finding truth within the falsehoods. 🤡🌍

Dana Banov's avatar

I agree; the world is becoming more mentally draining, confusing, frustrating - I say, as I also look at a screen for hours... Natural & simple is best, but the genie is out of the bottle & we all have to adapt to the new robotic, electrical "reality" surrounding us.

John Droz's avatar

Critical Thinking is imperative!