Fake CN Tower on Fire videos go viral on Facebook this week, and experts say it's another example of why social media platforms need to clearly mark AI-generated content.
One expert said the creator should be arrested and accused of misinforming false information with the intent to cause panic.
The CN Tower media relations team revealed that no fires occurred in the Toronto landmark structure. However, this video has been viewed over 20 million times.
On the 24-second Facebook reel posted Monday, it appears that people on the waterfront are filming the CN tower in the distance. A grey smoke plume emanates from the higher level that houses the restaurant and observation deck.
“What the hell is that?” one person asks.
Then the perspective changes and others film the towers from downtown streets as the fire burns more vigorously. You can see flames and black smoke. The driver rings the corner.
“What a god!” one person says.
In the final clip, the top of the CN tower, burning and decommissioned, is shown in an aerial view.
In a statement Wednesday, the CN Tower media team said: “This video is deepfake and is completely fictional. There are no fires and the CN Tower is safe, secure and fully operational.
“Unfortunately, this is not the first time AI-generated content or visual effects have been used to create misleading depictions of CN Tower,” the statement reads.
Techniques that advance faster than the law: Experts
Francis Syms, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science and Technology at Humber Polytechnic, said in the “age of misinformation” that if people don't immediately realize that it's fake, the video can be harmful or alarmed.
“I think what we need to do is ensure that when these videos are created, the provider has AI-generated labels. That's easy,” Syms said.
The label warns social media consumers that the video is fake and that the federal government can easily pass the law and create requirements, Syms added. He said the problem is that technology is moving faster than the laws governing new technological tools.
“We're still like that grey zone. If someone posts a fake video on social media, the first thing to do is go to a news source to verify it. But the problem is that people share those videos and sometimes get news directly from social media,” he added.
“It's extremely difficult for law enforcement to know how to deal with that kind of situation. There's little we can do other than talking to social media platforms and ask the AI to place the generated labels on top of them.”
CBC Toronto contacted the Federal Minister of Artificial Intelligence's office for comment.
CBC Toronto contacted Facebook to ask if they were considering such labels for their content.
Meta, a US company that owns Facebook, said on its website: “When people discover industry-standard AI image indicators and/or upload content generated by AI, they start adding 'AI Information' labels to a wider range of video, audio and image content. ”
Toronto police have not investigated
However, AI labels are not enough to protect people from spreading misinformation, Syms said.
One rule of thumb is assuming that videos and images seen on social media are not realistic and might go to a reliable news source to check the information, Syms said.
Jeffrey Dovlkin, a senior fellow at the University of Toronto Massey College, said that the video is “very fraudulent” and that the RCMP should file a claim under section 372 of the Canadian Criminal Code.
Doing so would stop people from creating fake videos that spread misinformation and send a message that such videos are damaged and irresponsible.
Dvorkin said creating videos was “completely” illegal.
“People who are intentionally spreading false information that has the purpose of creating panic are responsible for sentences of two years in prison, and the RCMP needs to see who is doing this and charge for that crime. This is a bit outrageous. That's a bit of a bit.”
Toronto police said they have not investigated the creation of the video.
“There is no protocol. It's an artificial video,” Const. Shannon Eames, a spokesman for the Toronto Police Service, said in an email Wednesday.
The person behind the video called “The creator of the viral moment”
Called “The Creator of Viral Moments since 2014,” Adrian Jee posted the video. On his Facebook profile, he says, “Teaching the future now: Art and content generated by AI.”
Although Gee doesn't say he used AI to generate the video, there are indications that AI was used, such as unnatural drift in smoke, lack of license plate numbers for the vehicle, and the overall appearance of the video.
CBC Toronto reached out to Gee on Facebook and Instagram for comment, but he has not yet responded.
Philip Mai, co-director of Toronto Metropolitan University's Social Media Lab, said the video comments clearly show that people have not been fooled.
However, he said that social media consumers should not share fake videos, and creators who refuse to label content as AI generated AI will be banned and should upgrade their media literacy so they can find out for themselves when something is fake.
“The only thing we can do now as a society is what we can do to prevent this kind of thing from spreading. Sadly, it's in our hands that we need to stop sharing things,” he said.
