AI pictures, and how to spot fakes
Big idea: AI can make pictures from words, including fake ones that look real. Before you believe or forward something, stop and ask: where did this come from?
The story in short
As a joke, Happy typed “a real photo of a tiger in a mango orchard in an Indian village” into a picture app on Dadi’s phone. The app marked it “Made with AI · not a real photo”, but Happy sent it to the village group as real: “TIGER in Dadi’s orchard!!!” It was forwarded from group to group, and 1,900 people saw it in two hours. The school cancelled its summer camp, farmers stayed out of their fields, and someone called the Forest Department. Forest Officer Nandini found no pugmarks in the soft soil. Bunny asked, “Who took this photo?”, and Happy, in tears, admitted that nobody had: he made it. Then the family set about putting it right.
The idea
- Generative AI: AI that creates new pictures, text, music or video.
- Prompt: the words you give it, like “a parrot flying over Jugnupur at night”.
- Training data: millions of pictures, each with a description, so it links words to pictures.
- Diffusion: it starts with random dots (noise) and removes a little at a time until a picture appears.
- Deepfake: a fake photo or video of a real person, made with AI.
- Misinformation: false information that spreads, often by forwarding.
- Verification and disclosure: check before you believe; label what you make.
Stop the spread
- Pause before forwarding anything shocking.
- Ask who took it, and where it first appeared.
- Look for proof, like pugmarks: news on trusted sites, or official accounts.
- Label AI pictures you make. In India, platforms are now required to label AI-made content too.
Remember: a picture takes a moment to make, but trust takes years to build.
Check yourself
What does an image AI start from when it makes a new picture by diffusion?
A WhatsApp forward shows a famous actor promoting a "government money scheme". What should you do first?
You made a funny AI picture of your friend. What is the responsible thing to do before sharing?
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