nCa Analysis
A picture used to be worth more than a thousand words. That was the going price before the AI. Now that the AI has kicked its way into the room, the picture and the word are pasted on the same side of the face – like a bizarre Picasso.
The enormity of the intrusion of AI into the media is – and will remain – unfathomable. In any case, we don’t aspire to measure it. We don’t need to, pro tem.
For now, our scope is quite limited – the media roundtable held in Ashgabat recently.
Before going any further, let us recall the context statement we created at the end of the first part of this short series:
“We can say that in search of new formats of cooperation between Turkmenistan and the international information environment, a dialogue has started that will certainly evolve into a dynamic narrative, the OSCE in Ashgabat has an important role to play in this process, and the objective will always be to meet the expectations Turkmenistan attaches to the entire process.”
Keeping our thumb on the recall button – a media roundtable was organized jointly by the foreign office of Turkmenistan and the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat on 14 April 2023. The theme of the roundtable was “New formats of cooperation in the international information environment.” The experts from the OSCE side – Marek Bekerman and Yakub Parusinski – and most of the speakers and the participants, who contributed to the dialogue, commented on ‘fake news’ and ‘media literacy.’
The speakers, including the experts brought in by the OSCE, focused sharply on fake news, leaving the AI rather on the periphery. This was apt but it blurred the role of AI that is rising furiously fast.
Ambassador MacGregor, the head of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat, however, had his finger on the pulse. In his conversation with nCa, he said that the people are relying on AI to assist them but its use can also be problematic. “How do we help people decide what is real and what is not. And this a really big question and we need to start to deal with it,” he said.
When asked whether the media in Turkmenistan was ready to harness AI, he said, very rightly, “I really don’t think any news media anywhere in the world is really ready for it.”
Had the roundtable taken place on 21 April and not 14 April, (just one week later), the focus would have been in line with the concerns of MacGregor. —– In a couple of sentences he managed to create the correct sequencing, shading the territory from here to the outer (and ever expanding) edge of the AI, automatically covering all kinds of fake news and distorted information in-between.
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Whether the fake news and media literacy is as big a source of concern for Central Asia (including, of course, Turkmenistan) as it appeared to be during the roundtable, we will come to that in the opinion piece that will serve as the concluding part of this series.
For now, let us just talk about a picture that never was and an interview that never took place.
The German artist and photographer Boris Eldagsen entered a picture in the contest and won the prestigious Sony world photography award.
The winning photograph depicted two women from different generations in black and white.
In a statement on his website, Eldagsen, who studied photography and visual arts at the Art Academy of Mainz, conceptual art and intermedia at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, and fine art at the Sarojini Naidu School of Arts and Communication in Hyderabad, said he “applied as a cheeky monkey” to find out if competitions would be prepared for AI images to enter. “They are not,” he added.
https://www.eldagsen.com/sony-world-photography-awards-2023/
“We, the photo world, need an open discussion,” said Eldagsen. “A discussion about what we want to consider photography and what not. Is the umbrella of photography large enough to invite AI images to enter – or would this be a mistake?
“With my refusal of the award I hope to speed up this debate.”
According to the Guardian story, he said this was a “historic moment” as it was the first time an AI image had won a prestigious international photography competition, adding: “How many of you knew or suspected that it was AI generated? Something about this doesn’t feel right, does it?
“AI images and photography should not compete with each other in an award like this. They are different entities. AI is not photography. Therefore I will not accept the award.”
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The German weekly magazine Die Aktuelle that wades into controversy from time to time, did not want to be left behind.
It published an entirely fake interview of Schumacher, the legendary seven-times winner of F1 championship, who is out of public sight since suffering an accident nearly a decade ago.
The ‘interview’ was generated by AI, emulating the way Schumacher might have answered the questions.
The magazine ran an image of Schumacher smiling on the front cover of its latest edition and boasted an exclusive interview, apparently the star’s first since his accident.
According to Forbes, Schumacher purportedly told the outlet his life has “completely changed” since the accident, which was a “horrible time” for his family and left him lying in a “kind of artificial coma” for months, according to the Independent.
The magazine only revealed the artificial nature of the quotes after the “interview.”
The Independent said the magazine has been labelled ‘disgraceful’ by fans online after using an artificial intelligence programme to produce fake quotes from Michael Schumacher – before depicting the response as an “exclusive interview” on their front cover.
https://www.independent.co.uk/f1/f1-michael-schumacher-interview-ferrari-b2322661.html
The Independent slammed Die Aktuelle, saying that it had sparked a backlash online after plastering Schumacher’s face on their 15 April front cover, with “exclusive interview” the accompanying tag.
The magazine stated that it was “the first interview” Schumacher has given since his accident, adding: “No meagre, nebulous half-sentences from friends. But answers from him! By Michael Schumacher, 54!”
“I was so badly injured that I lay for months in a kind of artificial coma, because otherwise my body couldn’t have dealt with it all. I’ve had a tough time but the hospital team has managed to bring me back to my family.”
Yet at the end of the article, the outlet reveal that they in fact used an AI chatbot, reported to be Character.ai, to generate the answers.
The fallout proved to be massive.
Anne Hoffmann, Editor-in-Chief of Die Aktuelle since 2009, was released from her duties by Funke Mediengruppe on 21 April 2023, with immediate effect. The Funke media group also apologized to the Schumacher family for reporting.
The case has triggered a discussion about journalistic standards and the use of artificial intelligence.
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As the things stand today, compared to a few months ago, the fake news (as understood in its general sense), and the media literacy or lack thereof, are not in the zone of urgency for us.
What worries us is not just the malicious use of AI but the terrifying likelihood that the AI can be taught to be malicious. /// nCa, 24 April 2023
To be continued . . .