AI is being used to give dead, missing kids a voice they didn’t ask for (www.washingtonpost.com)
from Daryl76679@lemmy.ml to technology@lemmy.ml on 14 Aug 2023 01:34
https://lemmy.ml/post/3305210

#technology

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autotldr@lemmings.world on 14 Aug 2023 01:35 next collapse

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Now, some content creators are using artificial intelligence to recreate the likeness of these deceased or missing children, giving them “voices” to narrate the disturbing details of what happened to them.

TikTok’s guidelines say the advancement of AI “can make it more difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction, carrying both societal and individual risks,” and ask that users who share synthetic or manipulated media showing realistic scenes include a disclaimer noting that the content is not real.

Felix M. Simon, a communication researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute, said he was confident that the videos mentioned in this piece were produced using “one or several AI tools,” but could not say which software exactly.

“They appear to be created with some form of AI tools and bear some of the typical hallmarks of cheaper AI-generated videos,” such as an anime or comic-like aesthetic and polished skin, he said in an email.

Simon cautioned that the videos — which are often accompanied by dramatic or sorrowful music, or show children with scars and bloodied faces — “have the potential to re-traumatize the bereaved.”

Cory Bradford, a TikToker who has gained almost 1 million followers producing history videos, said that while he generally avoids using AI in his own posts, those who do are likely trying to boost engagement, especially on a platform where the audience skews younger.


I’m a bot and I’m open source!

sub_ubi@lemmy.ml on 14 Aug 2023 01:49 collapse

Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery.

queermunist@lemmy.ml on 14 Aug 2023 01:35 next collapse

You will never be allowed to die.

🙂

eee@lemm.ee on 14 Aug 2023 01:41 next collapse

This is eerily similar to that episode of Black Mirror…

667@kbin.social on 14 Aug 2023 07:57 collapse

This is exactly that episode of Black Mirror. The use case is different, but the concept is identical.

Lemmylefty@lemmy.world on 14 Aug 2023 02:03 next collapse

While TikTok has removed multiple videos depicting James narrating his abduction and death in Kirkby, England, many remain available to view on YouTube.

This is fucking ghoulish.

Does this constitute psychological torture? I’m serious. This is so much eviler than what Westboro does.

Christ. I already hate these people.

duncesplayed@lemmy.one on 14 Aug 2023 02:12 next collapse

Anne Frank advertising baby clothes before discussing the horrors of the Holocaust

Wow, that is amazingly inhumane.

My first thought is they’re necessarily making characters who aren’t people. A person who has lived through the Holocaust just cannot cheerfully peddle baby clothes. I don’t mean that it’s physically not possible because she’s dead: I mean in terms of the human psyche, a person just flat-out psychologically could not do that. A young boy who succumbed to torture and murder psychology cannot just calmly narrate it.

So obviously, yeah, it’s quite a ghoulish and evil thing to take what used to be a person, and a figure who has been studied and mourned because of their personhood, because we can relate to them as a person, and just completely strip them of their personhood and turn them into an inhumane object.

But then that leads to me the question of, who’s watching these things, and why? The article says they got quite a lot of views. Is it just for shock value? I don’t quite understand.

Pandantic@midwest.social on 14 Aug 2023 12:15 next collapse

Have you met the true crime community? They would eat this stuff up.

TheBat@lemmy.world on 14 Aug 2023 13:26 collapse

I don’t get them. Why would you keep watching and discussing this stuff? Have they got no empathy?

UlyssesT@hexbear.net on 14 Aug 2023 21:58 collapse

But then that leads to me the question of, who’s watching these things, and why? The article says they got quite a lot of views. Is it just for shock value? I don’t quite understand.

Once again the entertainment can claim to be “educational” or “informative” and piously claim it doesn’t “condone” what it’s presenting (for entertainment purposes) but “true crime” hogs will gobble it up and oink all the while anyway.

FuckyWucky@hexbear.net on 14 Aug 2023 02:24 next collapse

true crime obsessed people are such scumbags

UlyssesT@hexbear.net on 14 Aug 2023 22:01 collapse

They don’t condone what they’re oinking to. As hogs, they’re just informed and educated about the misery porn they get off to.

OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml on 14 Aug 2023 02:32 next collapse

“Hello, my name is James Bulger,” says the image in one TikTok video, made in the likeness of the British 2-year-old who was abducted in 1993 as his mother paid for groceries.

“If my mom turned right, I could have been alive today. Unfortunately, she turned left,” the childlike voice says, citing what James’s mother once said was one of her biggest regrets: If she had turned right, she would have seen her son being led away by the two 10-year-olds who later tortured and killed him

Yup

jackpot@lemmy.ml on 14 Aug 2023 02:33 next collapse

so fucked up

harmonea@kbin.social on 14 Aug 2023 02:34 next collapse

Stuart Fergus, the husband of James Bulger’s mother, said that after he reached out to one creator asking them to take down their video, he received a reply saying: “We do not intend to offend anyone. We only do these videos to make sure incidents will never happen again to anyone. Please continue to support and share my page to spread ­awareness.”

He really tried to take down his wife's dead kid's deepfake and got the creator responding "no offense, so like share and subscribe lel"

Using the likeness of another person without that person's express permission should be a jailable offense.

FigMcLargeHuge@sh.itjust.works on 14 Aug 2023 03:00 next collapse

They seem to be getting a pass on using copyrighted materials to feed these programs so I am doubting that we would get legislation protecting our own likenesses, or those of our loved ones. I bet you couldn’t even get lawmakers to understand what they would need to write into law. They (american lawmakers) all seem to be so up to speed on technology. /s

otter@lemmy.ca on 14 Aug 2023 03:41 collapse

Not until someone starts making clips of lawmakers narrating their own crimes and unethical behavior, then they’ll get it done immediately.

Not that I’m suggesting anyone do that…

[deleted] on 14 Aug 2023 03:43 collapse

.

DessertStorms@kbin.social on 14 Aug 2023 07:35 collapse

How the fuck does someone go from "I want to punish this person" to "lets make porn of a woman in his life who has nothing to do with it, that'll show 'em!"??

Surely there are a million ways you can come up with to include whichever lawmaker in a deepfake that don't include violating an unrelated woman?

FigMcLargeHuge@sh.itjust.works on 14 Aug 2023 13:28 collapse

Because that’s a news story I have already read about. This has happened to people. No need to be so sanctimonious.

TheBat@lemmy.world on 14 Aug 2023 13:29 collapse

We only do these videos to make sure incidents will never happen again to anyone.

Fuck this concern troll.

donuts@kbin.social on 14 Aug 2023 02:39 next collapse

For fucks sake... AI continues to usher in a new age of human horror.

azuth@lemmy.world on 14 Aug 2023 18:11 collapse

True crime shows have existed with real (paid) actors in mainstream media for decades. Certainly made more money compared to ‘content creators’.

CmdrShepard@lemmy.one on 14 Aug 2023 20:52 collapse

There’s a stark difference between reporting on or dramatizing a crime (often with family involvement) and creating deepfakes of dead kids to boost your social media presence.

azuth@lemmy.world on 14 Aug 2023 21:31 collapse

Yes, the people making the crime shows make real money.

It’s also not a deepfake but quite fake looking AI generated stuff. And childlike synthesized voiceovers.

I frankly find making a whole tv production with actors,directors etc far more disturbing.

pulaskiwasright@lemmy.ml on 14 Aug 2023 02:51 next collapse

This feels so much like a cyberpunk story. It’s so dehumanizing and has such disregard for humanity that it feels like a perfect match for the genre.

I’m really starting to understand how old people get to a point where they no longer want to keep with the times. This is gross.

jet@hackertalks.com on 14 Aug 2023 02:52 next collapse

Keep summer safe

UlyssesT@hexbear.net on 14 Aug 2023 21:52 collapse

This feels so much like a cyberpunk story. It’s so dehumanizing and has such disregard for humanity that it feels like a perfect match for the genre.

We’re ruled by billionaires that read (or more likely just watch) cyberpunk dystopia stories and say “based, I want to make that real.” <img alt="lord-bezos-amused" src="https://www.hexbear.net/pictrs/image/06b2b429-72e4-4c31-a35b-87c77748e5c3.png">

knowyourmeme.com/memes/torment-nexus

Kara@kbin.social on 14 Aug 2023 02:52 next collapse

The 2 biggest psychopaths join forces, true crime people, and tech bros

Fuckass@hexbear.net on 14 Aug 2023 03:25 next collapse

We need to elevate this by creating an industry for entire robots of dead relatives. That we eliminate coping and allow everyone to live in a fantasy world forever <img alt="nicholson-yes" src="https://www.hexbear.net/pictrs/image/43d4cab3-485e-47b0-a691-015c0068857f.png">

UlyssesT@hexbear.net on 14 Aug 2023 22:02 collapse

With sufficient techbro takes about how humans are just meat computers and that consciousness is just an illusion, replacing dead people with portable chatbots seems less disturbing. <img alt="galaxy-brain" src="https://www.hexbear.net/pictrs/image/fa05d4fe-f163-40e0-a03d-912cd48096ad.png">

Roundcat@kbin.social on 14 Aug 2023 03:36 next collapse

This is some radicalizing shit right here.

lemmy@linkopath.com on 14 Aug 2023 05:04 next collapse

Reminds me of that Battlestar Galactica spinoff Caprica where the dad recreates his daughters life in a machine by recreating her life from her social media presence…

CmdrShepard@lemmy.one on 14 Aug 2023 20:50 collapse

Spoilers!

linearchaos@kbin.social on 14 Aug 2023 07:15 next collapse

More of that asked if they could not if they should stuff

shivers

BareHandedPoopScoop@waveform.social on 14 Aug 2023 10:14 next collapse

This is inarguably horrible but the use of AI seems irrelevant. You could make this same thing with any animation tool. It’s the idea that’s disgusting.

Do you think AI is mentioned because it makes the article seem more up to the minute and in keeping with current tech trends?

“A man drew a disgusting picture of a horrible event using pencils and paper this week.”

“Pencils and paper are so awful.”

TheBat@lemmy.world on 14 Aug 2023 13:27 next collapse

The ratio of effort to output is off the chart. Don’t pretend you don’t get it.

BareHandedPoopScoop@waveform.social on 14 Aug 2023 14:30 collapse

Why does that matter in this context?

TheBat@lemmy.world on 14 Aug 2023 15:11 collapse

You really don’t see any difference between using an AI to generate powershell script and using AI to milk murder of children?

Serdan@lemm.ee on 14 Aug 2023 16:39 collapse

I don’t see the difference between doing this with AI or doing it with Photoshop. It’s horrible independently of the tools used.

BareHandedPoopScoop@waveform.social on 14 Aug 2023 17:04 next collapse

Thanks. That was precisely my point. The tools used to make this are irrelevant. It’s fucked up regardless.

TheBat@lemmy.world on 14 Aug 2023 17:08 collapse

Cool, so you see no problem with these ghouls being even more efficient with AI because governments have zero fucking clue about new technology?

Are you too stupid to understand why that is a horrible thing?

PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml on 14 Aug 2023 17:34 next collapse

Wait, what does Government tech-illiteracy have to do with this?

TheBat@lemmy.world on 14 Aug 2023 18:58 collapse

These people are using likeliness of actual people without their (or their heirs’/parents’ in case of dead people) permission to make money off of tragedies. I don’t know about you, but I think we as a society should have laws from preventing this from happening.

src@lemmy.ml on 14 Aug 2023 19:20 next collapse

So you would support government limiting an individual’s right to run software on their computer because you don’t agree with what the software outputs?

That’s absolute nonsense. The entire premise of these machine learning models is that they accept any arbitrary input, you would want to neuter that?

TheBat@lemmy.world on 14 Aug 2023 20:37 collapse

They’re not just running the software on their computer. They’re publishing it on the internet for mass consumption you amazingly dense potato.

src@lemmy.ml on 14 Aug 2023 20:45 collapse

So it’s acceptable for AIs to generate these sorts of outputs, as long as they aren’t shared online? Sure, the outputs aren’t very tasteful, but they’re certainly not illegal by any stretch.

Why do you think the government should intervene, and what you would even expect them to do? No laws are being broken.

If you somehow forbid AIs from generating this through a national law just because it’s offensive, it’ll open to floodgates to ban 1,000 other things that are offensive. Where do you draw the line? Ban this content from websites like TikTok, sure. But it doesn’t make sense to regulate this from the AIs themselves.

Serdan@lemm.ee on 15 Aug 2023 08:15 collapse

I think there should be legal avenues to shut down people who do that shit.

It doesn’t matter what tools they’re using. The solution is the same regardless.

UlyssesT@hexbear.net on 14 Aug 2023 21:50 collapse

If pencils and paper were actively causing a spike of worker precarity, a sudden increase in fraud and identity theft and misuse of people’s personas against their will and without their consent, I wouldn’t blame people for being upset at those fancy new pencils or paper instead of smugly telling them how actually <img alt="berdly-actually" src="https://www.hexbear.net/pictrs/image/5679045f-1d00-4576-a8d8-9b70c4ef930e.png"> the technology in a vacuum with no one using it is actually harmless.

wama@lemdro.id on 14 Aug 2023 15:13 next collapse

Hey i know this one! Isn’t a Black mirror episode?

AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee on 14 Aug 2023 21:36 next collapse

This just fuels my reasoning for not trusting us with AI. Raising awareness is fine and all, but re-creating a lost child only for them to tell you how they died is beyond fucked up.

UlyssesT@hexbear.net on 14 Aug 2023 21:48 collapse

It’s not condoning child murders (or I assume that’s the claim being made) but hogs will oink and get off to their True Crime™ misery porn anyway. <img alt="kombucha-disgust" src="https://www.hexbear.net/pictrs/image/47e615e9-e897-4206-ad34-f2f6162cc749.png">

UlyssesT@hexbear.net on 14 Aug 2023 21:47 collapse

I was tired of this shit a while ago and I’m starting to outright hate it now. <img alt="manhattan" src="https://www.hexbear.net/pictrs/image/dcf6bf6d-f27d-4191-a56f-93cb88376fa6.png">