Casey Gilfillan

Is your likeness, once processed through and altered by a computer program that derives its knowledge and artistic impression from the data of your peers, still you? It certainly doesn’t look like the people that I know, does not match the faces of the names attached to these manufactured images. It steals pieces; hair color and general shape, the color of your eyes and the way they rest uniquely above your cheeks. It reconstructs your jaw, gives you the appearance of healed rhinoplasty. It glazes over blemishes with that uncanny smoothness of complexion. I guess it’s kind of you, in the way that when I see the name that accompanies the artificial image I can recognize the source of the material, even if it does not reflect the integrity of the source. These narcissistic motivations are a guiding force in the defense of artificial intelligence, as its users are far too occupied with self-centric content to be concerned with the consequential impact of this technology.

What am I rambling on about, beating around this bush of a thing that is so obvious  that it brings me pain in the form of indignation, frustration. These AI-generated images featuring the murderous villain from Scream (or whatever character they romanticize themselves being preyed upon by) do not look as much like the instigators of these prompts as they seem to believe. Whether or not they believe it is still a rendition of the self– which I do not – it is objectively true that the fruits of this amalgamation often do not resemble the person they are curated for. They are uncanny depictions, with semblances of familiarity, enough to trigger recognition that is only followed by an unsettling feeling of something awry. Notice how I don’t say creators in regard to those using generative AI – because nothing is being created, rather manufactured from the regurgitated remains of human output. Enhanced with a touch of human essence from the impersonal data vacuum.

Some users of these deceptive image-manufacturing tools become extremely defensive when called out on their use of these faculties. They accept the ego-stroke, the flood of compliments and prompt requests in the comments from their hollow-minded peers as if it is acclaim for their true appearance, praise for their lived experiences. The reality is far from the truth, as these users sit humbly at home thumbing their phone screens to the tune of copy and pasting prompts, feeding information and photos and their deepest narcissistic desires to the high-powered data void while not actually accomplishing anything at all. All of this, to produce counterfeit images that boast of experiences never had, people never met, poses never held. Look at this thing I want to do, look how cool I look doing these things I’ve never done, look at this auto-tuned version of my face next to a celebrity that I idolize, rendering these versions of themselves fictional characters that hold no bearing on reality. Because of this attachment to these fraudulent depictions of the self, they become embittered when pushed upon the purpose, the appeal, the ethicality of using the tools that enable them. They blindly defend what is nothing more than lazy reliance on thieving technology; there is an absence of any true appreciation of art. It is but an unquenchable thirst for dopamine rush, the thrill of seeing themselves glamorized and stylized even by means of a tool that does not actually facilitate experience, and effectively harms the quality of “real” life through environmental havoc.

Oftentimes, whether due to the quality or ridiculousness of the image (i.e. likelihood of happening), it is possible to discern AI-images from the real thing. This is unfortunately becoming more difficult as the technology progresses, as we continue to voluntarily offer our lives, art, and information as tribute to this beast of immense societal burden. I’ve experienced moments of uncertainty when analyzing media, so much so that I refrain from reposting or sharing images that have ambiguous sources, out of fear that the AI origin is intentionally masked. I fear our arrival at a point where we cannot tell AI apart from real photos and artwork, and I believe we are rapidly approaching this distorted state of being. 

The notion of reality has been dissolved from its former glory over recent years, particularly through the dismantling of Truth and Fact through propagandist movements such as Donald’s “Fake News Media,” in which he deems “fake” or untruthful any report that is critical, negative, questioning, or anything less than lavishly congratulatory of him. A portion of the population was infected by the mentality of vilifying those antithetical to your opinions, and our country has been scourged by this plague of misinformation and mistrust in our news organizations. Now our media, our images and videos that were formerly used to verify or debunk rumors have become these shoehorns of propaganda themselves. Donald is of course the most public vector of this, sharing many artificially-generated videos, such as one that features Barack Obama sitting beside him in the Oval Office, until three F.B.I. agents enter and detain the former president, grabbing him and removing him from his seat by his coat. Sure, we know it’s AI, but do all of the boomers, the elderly folk scrolling online? Even upon acknowledgement of its artificial nature, we must consider the full extent of harm caused by the manufacturing of these fraudulent and defamatory images. We must question a system that allows rampant fraudulence to be produced with such ease. Lest we want their impact to be a stain forever upon the American psyche and notion of Truth, encapsulating events that never occurred and fooling those unable to tell the difference.

It is a play upon the fabric of reality itself – what and who can we trust for knowledge? Certainly not stills and reels that purport the occurrence of things that have not ever occurred. This plague of deception transcends the public realm into the personal, into our homes and close relationships. Ordinary people abuse this tool too, not typically for political gain but for egotistical-validation. They too create falsehoods and publish them online, and although the social implications may not be as profound as the President of the United States doing so, the brain rot addiction phenomenon is something that must be dissected. The current obsession is the production of an image of oneself laying on a bed, with the villain from Scream sneaking up from behind – I have seen the same glossed over image at least ten times, everyone begging each other in the comments to “do mine!” 

I recently saw someone use an AI photo generator to produce an image of their young child – perhaps around 5 or so – with a deceased relative. In the photo, the two are hugging in a warm embrace, something that never happened in real life due to untimely passing. This is something people have used Photoshop for historically, editing the dead into photos from events they were not able to attend. I find the methodology of Photoshop to be more respectable, in the sense that some artistic effort is employed to create these coveted scenes, but to be quite frank, I find this activity as a whole to be disturbing. At least with Photoshop, you can normally tell it’s been edited even if done well. These AI generations purport an alternate reality that is sometimes hard to discern, especially for young children who do not have pre-AI media literacy, or any at all for that matter. I understand the mother’s desire to see her dead relative and her daughter meet. However, my understanding falters when the coping mechanism is a manipulation of reality, essentially playing God with scenes and creating each desired depiction. Part of our intellectual maturity involves us recognizing the sadness and tragedy of life, learning to live with and accept the things that never were as fuel to pursue, conquer, and experience. Generative AI cuts out this essential developmental step, as it negates the need for emotional intelligence and acceptance of fate when you can manufacture your own. I just hope that when her daughter sees this photo, she explains what it really is. When I was younger, I enjoyed looking at my baby photos and there were some featuring ‘strangers’ holding me, caring for me. These photos, and not my infant brain, are how I know that I have “met” certain people, some who have passed unto death and others merely onto different paths of life. Through the creation of these manufactured capsules of faux realities, photos mean something different than what they previously have. They are no longer merely moments memorialized, experiences captured for sentimental reflection and documentation, connecting generations and filling the historical gaps – they can be whatever we make them. Capturing a moment in time has evolved into creating the illusion of the moment you want to capture.

After success with the production of her manufactured image, the mother then went on making more AI photos, no longer including her daughter or dead relative but herself. She posted at least seven additional photos, featuring herself being held or cradled by various horror film ‘icons.’ The sentimental use quickly progressed into one guided by dopamine lust.

 Beyond expressing my distaste for these throwaway trends that exude e-waste, I want to encourage the participants, those who find themselves swept up in these alluring calls to artificial submission, to think more thoroughly about why they want to engage, and what exactly they are doing. While many of these users do not concern themselves with the health of the planet, stubbornly arguing in favor of their gluttonous slop machines, I merely encourage reflection upon the intentionality, ego, and instant gratification that are involved in the use of these reality-manipulating devices. What is the version of “you” that these images promote?

As we find ourselves deeply entrenched within this lobotomizing culture, we must reject these applications and “tools” that accomplish nothing except the cognitive numbing and de-intellectualization of our collective self. We are outsourcing our creativity, our ability to naturally produce our own thoughts and artwork, our duties to research and the pursuit of knowledge, and somehow being tricked into eager participation in this sale of our essence, the very traits and characteristics that make us distinctly human. All the while, we are further deteriorating the very land that allows for our existence as humans. From Gemini image prompts to the “Salad AI” generator (a feature within Just Salad’s mobile app that handholds you through the laborious mental burden of building a custom salad), the short-term benefits are touted selfishly above all else, with no concern for the ethicality, the viability, or the very question as to why they are forcing this injection of artificial slop into our societal bloodstream.