Facebook Page Drives Agriculture Involvement with AI-Generated Images of Disabled Veterans

Applications of AI


An image posted this week to the Facebook page “Summer Vibes” shows a smiling, brunette-haired young woman. She's wearing a military uniform but, curiously, no pants; the tattered American flag patch on the arm of her jacket has only six stripes and no stars. She's white and traditionally attractive. And, crucially, the smiling young woman is sitting in a wheelchair, implying that she's a wounded or disabled veteran.

“Don't swipe [sic] “You can't rise without giving love,” the garbled caption on the image reads. “Without heroes, we [sic] They are all normal people, and [sic] Not sure how far I can take it,” he wrote, followed by a string of hashtags listing the names of famous actresses like Anne Hathaway, Megan Fox and Jennifer Lopez (and, for some reason, Christian Bale and Chris Evans).

Needless to say, this woman isn't real. She's been generated by an AI, and to many, that's obvious. In addition to the horribly inaccurate American flag on her uniform, the surname that normally appears on a soldier's pocket is an indecipherable blob that, when zoomed out, becomes Similarities The letters are blurred. The teeth, eyes, and ears are also blurred and creepy, and the hands are not clear.

But despite these obvious flaws, the image has gone viral, garnering over 62,000 reactions, nearly 5,000 comments, and 2,500 shares to date. Judging by the comments section, many people, especially older men, seem convinced that she is the real deal.

“For your sacrifices for America and its people, [sic] Our Republic, our Constitution, and our God-given [sic] “Protect our rights and freedoms!” one commenter wrote, noting that she served during the Vietnam War. “Thank you, Summer. You are a beautiful and brave young woman!” another added, ending the post with heart, American flag, Statue of Liberty and bald eagle emojis.

“Thank you, comrade,” another older man wrote. “May you be blessed for your service and dedication.”

“Amazing,” added another. “Thank you for your service and prayers for healing, mercy and comfort from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”

“Miss Beautiful USA!” another older man chimed in. “Thank you for all your efforts.”

The Facebook page's title, “Summer Vibes,” suggests a feed of shots and cocktails sipped by poolside under tiny umbrellas, but the posts are anything but summery or summery. It's a spam page, dedicated to automatically flooding photos and graphics of combat-scarred veterans. Each post is accompanied by the same mistake-ridden caption imploring users to “give some love” before scrolling through. The page repeatedly appeals to support the people depicted in the numerous photos and graphics, but offers no information about them or links to charities or donations. Instead, the page posts image after image, begging for likes, comments, and shares.

Most of the images in Summer Vibes appear to feature real veterans. But most of these posts haven't garnered much reach. Some get just a few likes and comments, while others can get hundreds of likes and comments on a good day. But like Facebook's now-infamous Shrimp Jesus AI image and countless other AI outputs that have made headlines on Facebook recently, the pantsed AI veteran appears to have been picked up by Facebook's recommendation algorithm and has grown in popularity from there.

There are several reasons for concern. On the one hand, there are many veterans with real disabilities who deserve care, respect, medical care, and financial support. The spread of fake images to distract from these flesh-and-blood humans who have historically been ignored upon returning from military service is immediately ethically problematic. And generally speaking, it's not a good thing for such images to crowd the internet, where flesh-and-blood humans are still trying to share and communicate. (We reached out to Summer Vibes but did not receive a response.)

And of course, reaction An AI created a fake version of this image. As an AI image, it's not particularly good or convincing. But some Facebook users were completely fooled by the fake image, again mostly older people, especially older men. Some were even convinced enough to argue with a few commenters who pointed out that the image was created by an AI.

The counterargument was, “How can you be so sure?”

These reactions go beyond artificial clickbait. BBC The report revealed that MAGA figures and pundits had used AI to generate fake images of former President Donald Trump posing with a group of Black voters, a demographic group the presidential candidate hopes to garner more support from in the ongoing 2024 campaign.

Looking at the comments on a fake photo posted to Facebook by a far-right media personality as part of an effort to sell a Rush Limbaugh-inspired Christmas book, we saw, yes, we're serious, a flurry of laudatory and ignorant comments. Some users praised Trump, others offered prayers, and still others simply called it a “beautiful photo.” Sound familiar?

This is just one example of a compelling use case for AI in political content. AI is becoming more prevalent in political campaigns and election cycles around the world, including the 2024 election in the United States, and experts have repeatedly warned about the associated risks. Spamming the web with photos of attractive fake veterans is objectively a terrible thing to do, and that’s fine. But after spending some time in the cursed land of Facebook comments, it’s hard not to feel a sense of unease that too many fake images could really do a disservice to what large groups of people believe to be true.

In a crucial year, it may be that older men on the internet ignore this extremely fake brunette's mushy fingers and crumpled uniform and appreciate her service.

More on AI and misinformation: Researchers say Russia is using AI to predict attacks at Paris Olympics



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