Despite all of the discussion about Web 3, it has been eclipsed of late by Generative AIs such as ChatGPT, which, according to many an article we’ve seen, is going to make a lot of white-collar workers redundant, as the Brits say. Artificial Intelligence Passes MBA Exam (given by a Wharton professor, FYI) and New ‘Robot’ Lawyer to Represent Defendant in US Court. ChatGPT even passed the US Medical Licensing exam. As we know, it’s also being used to write news articles, tweets and who know what else in startup land, giving new meaning to the term, ‘fake it till you make it.’

When we first got wind of the Generative AI, knowing that it was scraping the internet and well aware of the rampant censorship that has been and is being practiced by the social networks, all of whom have had a stranglehold on the conversation for quite some time, including the pre-Musk Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, we knew this would be a problem. And lest we forget, the programs tend to be written by programmers who have a certain bias, or whose C-Level has a certain bias, and in case you missed it:  The damage done to the credibility of AI by ChatGPT engineers building in political bias is irreparable. The AIs will always have human biases, because it’s humans who are creating it.

Generative AI isn’t the only thing that’s faking it. Getting more sophisticated and no doubt soon to hit that same tipping point are the Deepfakes, both visual and audio. For how many years has Big Tech been capturing your face and voice?  “With no barriers to creating AI-synthesized text, audio and video, the potential for misuse in identity theft, financial fraud and tarnish reputations has sparked global alarm,” the Japan Times reported.

As usual, where are the adults in the room?

How many times has Facebook et al been hacked – and not only did nothing about it but didn’t report it until years later. And even then, didn’t bother informing users that their information had been compromised re stolen?

And remember: Mark Zuckerberg leveraged Facebook user data to fight rivals and help friends, leaked documents show Facebook’s leaders seriously discussed selling access to user data — and privacy was an afterthought. According to the article, they didn’t merely discuss it – they did it.

“Technological advances in artificial intelligence will erode social trust, empower demagogues and authoritarians, and disrupt businesses and markets,” the (the Eurasia) group warned in a report, said the Japan Times. “Advances in deepfakes, facial recognition, and voice synthesis software will render control over one’s likeness a relic of the past…This week AI startup ElevenLabs admitted that its voice cloning tool could be misused for “malicious purposes” after users posted a deepfake audio purporting to be actor Emma Watson reading… “Mein Kampf.”

”China enforced new rules last month that will require… deepfake content to be appropriately tagged to avoid “any confusion.” The rules came after the Chinese government warned that deepfakes present a “danger to national security and social stability…In the United States, where lawmakers have pushed for a task force to police deepfakes, digital rights activists caution against legislative overreach could kill innovation or target legitimate content.”

If you believe that this is anything other than the latest iteration of the Age of Social, which quickly devolved into the Age of Surveillance, may be time to think again, only this is much more troubling. As we move into Web 3 and the metaverse, we hear more and more about digital twins, which is basically everything about us, every aspect of our lives – especially those parts that would br of great interest to data-hungry Ais – such as our images, medical records, financial information, etc. and not that hackers would be much of a threat at all. Time to tread carefully as we enter this brave new world.

Where Does It Stop?

We came across an email from a well-known online publication asking which professions did we feel would this seeming weapon of mass disruption – Generative AI – not displace? The same might include Deepfakes at some point and our answer would be…performers and – shocker! – possibly even writers. Which would at first blush appear to be low-hanging fruit but consider the public’s fascination with the personal lives of performers/celebrities. Gossip. Dirt. Generative Ai might be able to write something similar to the Harry Potter series, but hold on there, Nellie! Didn’t fans queue up for book signings? How many articles have been written about J.K Rowling? Or star Daniel Radcliffe? It’s that so very human characteristic: curiosity. A look into lives other than our own. That may well be the deciding factor as to whether we’ll be going Full Fake. Again, these are tools. It’s early days and too premature to completely dismiss the human factor.  Truth be told, there are times and circumstances where we’re still going to have to keep it real. Onward and forward.