Hello and greetings!
It is deeply concerning to see the growth of use of AI deepfakes by misguided persons on the Internet.
Joy Reid of MSNBC was taken advantage of by one such person. Her cautionary tale reminds us of the openness and complete freedom existing in the AI space today.
Misuse of AI by scamsters due to its ubiquity, ease of use, lack of regulation and enforcement have resulted in the inability to the hold scamsters accountable. Gaping holes in legislation and technology capability to watermark and track content, allow misguided actors to waltz though unpunished. This freedom must be curtailed.
Joy Reid has given examples of damage done by unnamed users to her reputation, to that of Hillary Clinton in a fake video supporting Ron De-Santis, and President Biden using voice cloning and video manipulation. There is also an incident of cloning a 15 year old girl’s voice to create a ransom demand by her kidnappers.
Watch the video below.
At present, the world watches helplessly, or so it seems. Yet, we should know that it is we alone who decide our quality of life and define our world. Being mute spectators, does not befit us. Is it a lack of courage to act, or is it confusion begot by complexity?
Whatever it is, the solution is simple. Mandate watermarking of content generation by Big Tech companies. Hold them accountable to deliver the technologies required to make mandatory watermarking of content happen. After all, do they not hold the reins which decide the direction in which technology progresses?
There are a number of content watermarking initiatives and collaborations between technology companies being funded across the globe. These are mostly privately funded. It is time for Governments to mandate trackable watermarked content generation within products sold by technology companies.
This is a simple, yet enormously beneficial step Governments can take to regulate the harmful effects emanating from the proliferation of AI. Let us strive to make all nations act in concert on this matter.