This Holy Tuesday, the daily The world published on its printed cover an image that, as things are, bordered on a miracle: Yolanda Díaz and Pablo Iglesias posed together again, almost embracing and surrounded by photographers. It was a false image. It was made clear at the top and at the bottom that it was a creation by artificial intelligence.
The debate, of course, was served. And on Twitter, territory of experts in everything, more. As soon as it was released, many users criticized the use of artificial intelligence to generate images similar to photographs in a medium. “This is very serious”, tweeted photojournalist @BrunoThevenin. “They certify it with a small note, but that does not justify it. It is a very serious attack against journalism and it is intolerable”, he added. Perhaps calling it an attack is very disproportionate: it could be criticized, especially when there is no warning embedded in the image and the image can be disseminated without the warning, but it has served to open the debate on the use of AI in the media. “There is no better way to warn about the dangers of artificial intelligence than by exposing ourselves to it in this way,” journalist Eva Baroja tweeted.
Others questioned the choice of that image when the main headline on the front page was about the risks for the PSOE of supporting Díaz’s party. “The news does not lie, but the edition of the cover is ethically reprehensible. They could have chosen an image that had nothing to do with politics or, if they did, one that was clearly AI-generated.” wrote @barbaenremojo.
The photographer Carlos Spottorno believes that the development of these tools will require greater professionalism in the taking and editing of photographs in the media: “Perhaps it is good news because the only antidote against false photos will be the certification of veracity, signed and responsibly legal. Which means raising the professional level of media and photographers. Perhaps the photographers will return to the templates ”. If so, welcome to artificial intelligence.
Perhaps this is good news, because the only antidote against false photos is going to be the certification of veracity, signed and with legal responsibility. Which means raising the professional level of media and photographers. Perhaps the photographers will return to the templates. pic.twitter.com/b0qyt39KH5
— Carlos Spottorno ???????? (@spottorno) April 4, 2023
However, I fear the worst. In recent weeks, we have learned of the case of an AI-generated image published —not by a media outlet— with the aim of raising tensions and protests. I’m talking about the one in which Donald Trump struggled with several policemen during his arrest; It never happened, since the former president of the United States entered the New York court on his own foot. Artificial intelligence can be used —it is used— to misinform, it is in our hands to improve our critical thinking to learn to differentiate the truth from the lie generated by AI.
That is precisely what the author of the report and the team that generated the images, United Unknown, a group of creators of videos and images of humor and political satire, intended. counted in The HuffPost that the shock generated in the bird’s network seems a bit exaggerated, that they were commissioned to create realistic scenes to show that it will be difficult to distinguish a real image from a false one, but that the important thing is to “encourage the construction of critical thinking and that it be know how to contrast the information”.
Total, that the debate on the use of artificial intelligence was opened on Tuesday morning, but it was closed that same day at night when another dystopian news was learned: in Hello!, Ana Obregón says that the baby she picked up in Miami is the daughter of her deceased son — that is, her granddaughter — by surrogacy. “The screen has passed Black Mirror”, said Verónica Fumanal in Day by day.
