At some point, in the midst of the creepy nightmare of ICE invasions of American cities that became a hallmark of the second Trump administration, I noticed a video on social media. One video showed a deli owner ordering a masked employee to leave the premises. Another photo showed a New York police officer handcuffing a police officer at a subway station as bystanders cheered. There are many others in this lineage, all of which provide clear evidence of resistance. More than once these little clips have boosted my morale.
Of course they were fake. And I was a willing sucker for AI slop, the rapidly proliferating AI-generated content sweeping the internet. I was desperate to believe what I was seeing. The trick wasn’t hard to see if you adopted the critical distances essential to your work. The image is strangely flat. The shadow is disappearing. His manners are like those of an actor. The scenario is too perfect. And many of the videos are created and posted by the same person, whose profile simply says, “I’m being sloppy.”
Propaganda is typically used for causes worth fighting for, and the ongoing battle against armed and masked thugs on America’s streets is certainly one of them. But when I realized the obvious truth about what I was seeing, I felt a wave of disillusionment. I was angry at myself for being so gullible. I also felt the sickening shock of realizing that deepfakes go far beyond celebrity image manipulation, and that there is a dark world out there that uses such technology to undermine or undermine democracy, and that I want no part of it. This is the world we live in now. The future is now, until it gets even stranger. (Credit: The potential for catastrophic consequences of AI video was presciently laid out in Mountainhead, a dark tech-bro satire by Jesse Armstrong, creator of Succession, a movie I had little interest in.)
The point is often to confuse, and when the stakes are low, the results can actually be quite entertaining. Earlier this year, a photo of Timothée Chalamet surfaced online. The photo appeared to be an homage to Terry O’Neal’s famous photo of Faye Dunaway lounging languidly at the Beverly Hills Hotel the morning after winning an Oscar in 1977 (for her performance in Network). Some people liked all those cheeks. Others went on the attack: Who does Chalamet think he is? Answer: They are onlookers just like the rest of us. Discerning observers quickly identified the photo as a fake.
That’s a fun gossip story. The video of a random guy punching an ICE officer in the face with no repercussions is another. Also, that’s not something I want to try in real life.
One of the reasons vulgar videos like this sting to me is; genuine Videos shot in real time by real people under the most dangerous conditions play an invaluable role in revealing the truth and swaying public opinion. Without the risky work of citizen videographers, we wouldn’t know as much about what’s happening on America’s streets. One such video, taken on the ground during the ICE occupation in Minneapolis and easily authenticated, detailed the moment two federal agents were shot and killed. Last Saturday, Alex Preti.
Without video evidence, lies will flow more freely and accountability (already anathema to the Trump administration) will completely disappear. The video from Minneapolis exposes the lies of Trump officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who claimed they were protecting against domestic terrorism. The White House also posted a digitally altered photo of a defiant protester in St. Paul, with the image altered to make it appear that she was crying. such tactics Remember Chico Marx’s line in “Duck Soup”? “Who do you believe? Me or your lying eyes?” I’ll look you in the eye, thank you.
You also can’t trust your eyes, except for AI. Unless you look at it with a skeptical eye and a well-honed intuition for critical thinking and media literacy. Unfortunately, these instincts are being dulled a little more each day, not just by advances in AI, but also by the content of algorithms, including the hypnotic glow and a wealth of misinformation emanating from the screens that provide such presentations. At some point, fake videos are just another distraction. This was the mentality that consumed them before I realized what a terrible person I was. I too am a slave to the algorithm, intoxicated with lotus-eating bliss by everything from highlights of my favorite sports team to fake images of opposing views.
Distinguishing between the real and the fake, and between truth and lies, will become increasingly important as democracy further declines. Any kind of authoritarianism thrives on asserting that above is below and black is white. These differences may not be so important to someone whose sole purpose is to use AI to make money. For the rest of us, there are few things more important than this.
AI slop makes for great fantasy when reality demands careful observation.
Chris Vognar can be reached at chris.vognar@globe.com. Follow him on Instagram (@chrisvognar) and Bluesky (chrisvognar.bsky.social).
