How AI Generated Photos Are Fueling Online Scams

The New Face of Social Media Hacking

A frighteningly common new reality involves personal social media accounts being compromised, not just for spam, but for sophisticated scams. Hackers are now using AI-generated photos of individuals to create fake promotions, and the most shocking part is that people are falling for it, tricked by the realistic images of someone they trust.

A Growing Crisis in Media Literacy

This trend points to a larger, more concerning issue: the erosion of our collective media literacy. As artificial intelligence becomes more adept at creating convincing fakes, our ability to distinguish between what's real and what's not is being severely tested. The very fabric of online trust is threatened when we can no longer believe what we see.

Can AI Solve the Problems It Creates

In a strange twist of modern problem-solving, the go-to resource for understanding the dangers of AI is often... another AI. When faced with the idea that technology is ruining our critical thinking, the instinct to ask a large language model like ChatGPT for answers highlights the complex and ironic relationship we have with these powerful new tools.

This column is by Gabrielle Drolet, the author of the book Look Ma, No Hands: A Chronic Pain Memoir.