25 Comments
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Beck's avatar

Absolutely wild. Somehow both hilarious and terrifying.

Its also exactly why we need to keep supporting you and your amazing mahi David. Good journalism is one of the coolest and most powerful things humans can share with each other, fuck this bullshit.

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Moira Bryce's avatar

Hilarious and terrifying is exactly what this is, and why we are all stumbling around not knowing what is true anymore.

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Joe G.'s avatar

I have not just woken up from a 10 year coma, and all this still barely makes sense to me. Luckily I'm not a journalist. I am beginning to worry I might be an AI generated hoax though. Nobody ask me to write them a limerick, I'm afraid what might happen.

I think the constant need for 'content' (hate that word) is also to blame here. We're living in the age of the 24/7 news cycle and the attention economy, and unfortunately journalism is also a business. Rolling Stone already got their clicks, and they'll get even more clicks for their mea culpa. And with the gutting of newsrooms, it's not like whe have tons of other places to go.

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Sanelma's avatar

You and me both Joe. I'm seriously starting to doubt my own existence at this point, when I can't get any sense to my own stuff even, and the world around me keeps getting more and more ridiculous, but not in a funny way at all. But, this seems to have been the perfect week to cut all old ties to, say, X. I used to enjoy Twitter, knowing how to use it to not get much bad stuff thrown at me, but it's been dead for a while now, and leaving it unused caused unwanted side-effects. I feel relief. But. That doesn't mean this AI/content shit isn't going to be everywhere anyway. I guess I'm the old lady yelling at clouds now, but I'm seriously considering moving somewhere out of grid. But then again, could I maybe get Webworm there as a paper flyer, or something?

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Sanelma's avatar

I know it's "off the grid". Stupid cell phones and all. *Yelling At Clouds*

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Joe G.'s avatar

I think getting off of X is a great start! No matter how much you try to be aware of it and how you try to filter it, marinating in all that right-wing propaganda is a bad idea.

I can't believe there wasn't a bigger exodus after MechaHilter.

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Sez's avatar
11hEdited

‘Andrew Frelon, does NOT represent their fictitious band. Naturally, I retweeted it from my fake TVS account saying “This is a huge problem for us. Please RT and share!” ‘

😂😂 a fake AI band met their match in the world of fakery.

I teach 5 year olds and they have been learning about AI generated pictures. Now they think everything is fake. It’s a bit sad really but they will grow up savvy.

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Tanya's avatar

While I enjoyed reading this article, I couldn't stop thinking about the environmental impact all this use of generative AI had, even with the goal of ridiculing the AI generated music.

I wish people didn't rely on ChatGPT so much, even for the simplest things. I don't want to browse an internet where everything is written by bots and we lose the human nuances of language.

Can't help but laugh at the irony of the "band's" complaint of someone taking ownership of something they didn't create, though.

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Charlotte's avatar

This was my issue too. Fighting AI misinformation, but using AI too? It feels... icky. I can't phrase it better than that.

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Adam Reaves's avatar

There’s a blurred line here where AI can help or hinder humanity. This is clearly an example of hinder. Though one would assume a publication such as Rolling Stone would have done more leg work in researching the fake account before setting up an interview. This is a bit scary though in a way by using ChatGPT to write angry tweets and such that come off as solid writing from a human being.

We’re almost at the point where humanity and AI are so mixed together we won’t know which is real and which is generated. While I have laughed at some of the AI songs like I Glued My Balls To My Butthole again, though crass and childish, is admittingly hilarious, I have also been terrified at AIs ability to sound so real and convincing.

How do we combat this problem? AI will be able to be used in fields of medicine and science to help us further our understanding of biology and help in diagnosing medical issues, yet being publicized creates a new set of issues. Where do we go from here? And how do we rein this in because the problem has truly already began. Thanks for the article guys. A truly thought provoking read.

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Joanna de Vos's avatar

I was listening to the TED Radio Hour yesterday and it featured futurist Ray Kurzweil and his prediction that singularity-the point at which human intelligence merges with machine-will arrive by 2045. It’s both fascinating and terrifying for me as a GenX-er who lived between the analog and digital era. I’m not sure we can collectively resist the seeming irresistible force of AI. But recognizing the ethical implications of it and calling for increased accountability— as David does in this article— might help hold the line between fact and fiction.

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Adam Reaves's avatar

Well said. Denmark is amending a law currently to give people copyrights over their own images. So there is a recognition to the impact AI is making globally. It’s wild to believe this would ever have been a thing going back to when we were growing up, isn’t it?

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Elaine's avatar

We have all the major news outlets in New Zealand printing press releases from political parties as if they are real news. They just seems to be very little verifying of facts anywhere.

Opinion pieces are published as if they are new pieces The rot has set in,

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Maika's avatar

I make no apologies for using Suno to make a series of prog-punk songs about my dog and I saving New Zealand from invading aliens.

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Dave's avatar

The irony of reporting on "fake news" is the likely outcome from those that push it are going to say it is "fake news".

But please, don't stop. This insanity has to have a bottom and an end.

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HarryTasker's avatar

Hoaxing a hoax - that's classic. For those who don't know him, YouTuber Rick Beato pulled some of this 'bands' songs into separate stems 2 weeks ago and picked up the AI artefacts straight away. As he explains, AI has been trained on low quality music such as mp3's so it inherently reproduces all the artefacts those tracks contain. When you separate the stems (i.e. drums, bass guitar, vocals etc) the artefacts stick out like the proverbial dogs bollocks. Hoax of the hoax aside, this is a development which should be worrying for a lot of musicians.

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Roger Goodman's avatar

Should we ask about the Observer's Salt Path story?

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Matt Miller's avatar

The larger implications are things we’ve already guessed. The truth is lost, and mostly unimportant. Lies keep forging ahead while the truth is still gathering its thoughts.

People are slowly turning to independent news, but there’s still bias. How long before a huge check takes over a source?

There’s lots of people still believing the drivel, but perhaps that has plateaued? Either we go full skeptic or we lose the thread.

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Andrew Robertson's avatar

The whole thing is a perfect analogy for politics today - there’s so much ambiguity about every topic nobody can genuinely grasp the truth. Social media has been the greatest gift to grifters, liars and the evil.

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Graham's avatar

The hoaxer retweeting the “band’s” complaint about his own activities to make his account look more legit is S-grade troll behaviour 😂

What a legend!

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Vague Craig's avatar

Fucking hilarious.

[inserts earworm] https://youtu.be/n5h0qHwNrHk

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kathleen Murdoch's avatar

What this demonstrates again is that Journalists are flawed human just like us and ready to fall for the latest brooklyn bridge or snake oil charm.

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Alicia's avatar

terrifying wow

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