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.
It's not, of course, generative AI that's deceiving people. It's the humans using AI to generate fake images and the humans who pass the fake images off as their own photos who are deceiving other humans.

A few people have questioned whether I am right to say that the image of a drop of water bursting on a bird's head like a crown actually is AI-generated. They think I may be wrong. That it is not faked. That it is real.

If I'm wrong, if it really is an unmanipulated photo by a verified human photographer, please do let me know so that I can correct myself and my toot.

(All this uncertainty is part of the whole problem. We all spend so much human time & energy trying to act in good faith.)

RE: https://eldritch.cafe/@lynatic/116439531277946968

@CiaraNi It is apparently watermarked by the AI that generated it (though I haven't checked this myself). I'd consider that pretty strong proof, since I can't imagine why anyone would add an AI watermark to a real, non-AI picture (but then again, people do lots of things I can't imagine people doing)

https://mstdn.social/@lynatic@eldritch.cafe/116439531501647616

@stveje Oh, so there is an actual AI-watermark. What a vicious circle all of this runs in. And such a terrible waste of all our human time and energy. I'd prefer to look at those real, non-AI pictures too!
@CiaraNi It's so depressing. Worst part is there doesn't seem to be any solution.

@stveje

"Worst part is there doesn't seem to be any solution."

Agreed. It makes it extra exhausting. There's no end in sight.

@CiaraNi @stveje Oh, good grief. I thought it was real and am both disappointed in myself for not being more attuned to the telltale signs you pointed out and angry at the original poster who obviously intended this to deceive.

This is why we can’t have nice things.

@fgraver @CiaraNi I couldn't tell if it was real or not at first either. I thought it looked too perfect to be true, but I really wasn't sure. I had to read the comments to convince myself it was AI, and it makes me so sad that we can't just enjoy pretty/funny pictures of cute birbs anymore.

@stveje @fgraver

'It makes me so sad that we can't just enjoy pretty/funny pictures of cute birbs anymore.' - agreed, very much agreed. Sources of joy have become something energy-draining and frustrating.