“Deepfake Scams: A Comedic Twist on the Distortion of Reality”

“Deepfake Scams Are Distorting Reality Itself”

“The next frontier of AI-enabled scams is upon us, and it will be no easier to critically evaluate and resist than the last one. Sadly, AI has achieved an almost mythical status of all-knowing, all-powerful, Silver Surfer-like transgalactic capability. In reality, yes, AI can comprehend and generate human language – at least to the extent that it can convince you it’s a beleaguered prince with a trunkful of gold needing immediate assistance.”

Now, let’s get real for a moment. AI has often been served on a silver platter, stylishly and sensationally, as a superhero-twist, a galaxy defender, ready to conquer the universe with its wisdom. Making humans appear comparatively dim-witted and gullible. It’s like attributing the character traits of a comical, ambitious villain to a toaster: It’s machines, folks. They follow the commands and nothing beyond.

In the middle of all the hoo-ha around AI, the focus conveniently hovers on its scintillating, mind-boggling achievements. Such as its capacity to spit out coherent sentences and play some great games of chess. But what about the bugs? The errors? The crashes?

But what’s happening with AI isn’t much different than what’s happened with any other buzzword of the decade. Don’t forget the Y2K disaster that never actually happened. Don’t forget the “cloud” fog which made our data disappear. How about the myth of IoT, turning every home into a Sleeping Beauty’s castle without the effort?

In reality, AI is just another ingenious tool on our technological belt, capable of both remarkable achievements and epic failures. It can help advance cancer research, but also generate a ream of nonsensical phrases. It’s not a divine force, vehemently trying to accomplish world domination. AI is just like The Muppet Show: incredibly entertaining, sometimes surprising, but ultimately manipulated by a bunch of humans.

The scams of tomorrow, powered by AI, may dazzle with sophistication. They might appear genuine, convincing, and shrewd. They’ll probably feature pleas from imaginary princes or long-lost uncles. But remember this: On the other side of all that AI flash and splash, there’s just someone – a human someone – trying to take advantage of our innate reliance on digital convenience and repose. They may be using AI, but that doesn’t make them AI. Just like using a microwave doesn’t make one a chef.

Read the original article here: https://www.wired.com/story/youre-not-ready-for-ai-powered-scams/