Creepfake
Apparently, the future of content creation lies in deepfake, the use of artificial intelligence to generate lifelike talking heads
that, for all intents and purposes, cannot be distinguished from the real thing. In the case of at least one software system, the process is as simple as typing in the words for a selected avatar to speak. The whole concept is an ethical and cultural minefield, if not just plain creepy; and, as Donald Trump supposedly said of Jeffrey Epstein, I'm not a fan.
In a game effort to justify the societal value
of this technology:
Mr Steelberg says that in the future such technology will enable grandchildren to have conversations with AI versions of deceased elderly relatives. "That's game changing, I think, for how we think about our society."
Bernd Debusmann Jr, business reporter, BBC News
That makes no sense. How can you have a dialogue with someone who's dead; someone whose personal response in any particular circumstance is likely unknown? Someone else has to put the words into the mouths of the AI-generated deceased. How would the deceased feel about it? If that's not creepy, I don't know what is.
If, by game changing…how we think about our society
, Mr Steelberg means disrespecting and misrepresenting the dead, he has a point. But I'm not convinced it's a good one.