CiaraApr 23
People keep sharing an image of a bird with a drop of water bursting on its head like a crown. It's AI, but people share it in good faith, believing it’s an amazing photo by a human of a real bird in a real moment of time. Meanwhile, humans who have taken amazing photos of real birds captured in real moments of time, like a hummingbird in ballet with a butterfly, get questioned in good faith by people who are tired of being cheated by AI-deceit. The way AI has broken social trust is distressing.
Show threadMy camera shoots fascists

@CiaraNi

I saw that bird with drop of water picture and knew instantly, as anyone who is familiar with birds and rain and nature would know, that it was machine generated. The drop is way too big and the bird would have flinched in that split second. Birds react fast!

Machine slop will probably have an insidious, long-term effect of decreasing people's appreciation of nature because everything will be thought to be fake. In fact, nature is replete with incredible beauty that you won't know about if you spend all day slop-scrolling

Apr 23 at 6:41amWeb
Show threadCiaraApr 23

@Mikal Same here. It was well done in the sense that you couldn't see obvious technical signs of AI. It did look like an actual photo. But the shape of the drop was too obviously not real. Or so I thought. Lots of people believed it. But nature is incredible, so no doubt some other time I'll see a photo I trust as an amazing Wildlife Photo of the Year that someone else spots as fake.

"Nature is replete with incredible beauty that you won't know about if you spend all day slop-scrolling" - yes!

Show threadbit101Apr 23
@Mikal @CiaraNi The other aspect that bugs me about it is that those who do point out that it's generated are usually met with an overly harsh response. I've seen threads get really heated. It goes beyond whether or not the photo is real; anyone who mentions that it's AI is immediately labeled as a toxic troll.
Show threadMy camera shoots fascistsApr 23

@bit101 @CiaraNi

I've missed all that, since I skip that stuff, especially the comments 😂

"How dare you interfere with my enjoyment of environmentally and socially destructive bullshit!"

Show threadCiaraApr 25

@Mikal @bit101

"How dare you interfere with my enjoyment of environmentally and socially destructive bullshit!"

I've been surprised how often people respond like this, both online and face-to-face, the instant they hear any mention of problems with AI usage. Even people who would normally be, say, environmentally conscious.

Show threadCiaraApr 25
@bit101 @Mikal Sorry you've had that experience. I haven't bumped into 'you're a toxic troll' pushback yet, but I do see people who are usually against GAI pushing back when something specific that they personally shared is later revealed to be fake. Then they want 100% proof or they say that in that one instance the fake 'was just to illustrate a point, no biggie'. It's like their pride is dented, even though it's not their fault or any of our faults we're getting tricked like this.
Show threadbit101Apr 25
@CiaraNi @Mikal personally I haven't been on the receiving end of it. My days of getting in on-line arguments and drama are mostly over.