At a glance.
- Jumio study highlights consumer perceptions of AI and its potential for deception.
- Hybrid war meets insurance fraud.
- Creating a nation of Pavel Morozovs.
Jumio study highlights consumer perceptions of AI and its potential for deception.
A global survey by Jumio found that 52% of its respondents who were aware of generative AI and deepfakes believed that they could detect a deepfake video. Junio alleges that this is an example of overconfidence with the consumer as deepfakes have reached a level of sophistication which would prevent an unaided human from detecting them. “Jumio data also shows a steady uptick in the use of increasingly sophisticated deepfakes across the globe and across industries, with a heavier presence in the payments and crypto sectors.” writes the report. Of the four countries polled regarding general awareness of generative AI like Chat-GPT and DALL-E, The United States at 62% and UK with 56% placed third and fourth respectively. Singapore was the clear leader in AI awareness with 87% of the respondents knowing about AI and continued this trend of beating the other countries by an average of 10% or more in the other poll questions.
Jumio also asked customers if they were aware of the dangers posed by generative AI enabled identity theft and 57% responded that they believed it would make identity theft easier. Jumio maintains that the responsibility of educating people on the dangers of AI enabled criminal activity and deepfakes is on the business. “Organizations have a duty to educate their customers on the nuances of generative AI technologies to help them develop more realistic expectations of their ability to detect deepfakes,” said Philipp Pointner, Jumio’s chief of digital identity.
Jumio assesses that even the best training will not be able to keep up with the acceleration of the quality with which these AI are creating media. They assert that the organizations affected need to invest in better security measures like biometric based verifications systems to ensure their customers’ security. Their poll shows that this cause is supported by a majority of their customers ““Consumers are willing to spend a little or a lot more time on identity verification if it improves security.” Customers were asked if they would spend more time on verification and the following were the results: financial services (80%), healthcare (77%), government services (74%), travel/hospitality (71%), and social media (71%). Mobility services, telecoms, and online gambling services were ranked last as customers were less willing to spend time verifying their IDs with such products.
There are no obvious or effective solutions (still less easy solutions) to the problem of unmasking deepfake images. The bogus images of an explosion at the Pentagon that briefly roiled stock markets when they circulated in tweets on May 22nd have elicited a response from Twitter, the Verge reports Twitter's Birdwatch program will now crowdsource factchecking of images with a view to doing just that. Birdwatch is intended to provide "context on Tweets — by the people, for the people," and thus may be understood as an automated adjunct to the classical liberal marketplace of ideas.
On May 30th Twitter announced an enhancement Birdwatch designed to deal specifically with images. "From AI-generated images to manipulated videos, it’s common to come across misleading media. Today we’re piloting a feature that puts a superpower into contributors’ hands: Notes on Media[.] Notes attached to an image will automatically appear on recent & future matching images. If you're a contributor with a Writing Impact of 10 or above, you’ll see a new option on some Tweets to mark your notes as “About the image”. This option can be selected when you believe the media is potentially misleading in itself, regardless of which Tweet it is featured in. Raters and readers will see notes that authors marked as 'about the image' slightly differently, so it’s clear to everyone that they should be interpreted as about the media, not the specific Tweet. Ratings can help identify cases where a note may not apply to a specific Tweet."
Twitter recognizes that this effort remains a work in progress. "It’s currently intended to err on the side of precision when matching images, which means it likely won’t match every image that looks like a match to you. We will work to tune this to expand coverage while avoiding erroneous matches. We’ll monitor how notes on media are used, and will be looking for your feedback. We’re excited to see contributors’ impact be magnified with this launch."
Hybrid war meets insurance fraud.
Tankers carrying Russian oil are having their movements concealed by Automatic Identification System (AIS) spoofing. The purpose of the deception appears to be, the New York Times reports, evasion of international sanctions against Russia. Why would the tankers spoof their locations? If tracking data revealed the ships' movements from Russian to customers' ports, that would be evidence of a prohibited breach of sanctions sufficient to void the vessels' insurance coverage, and no shipper wants that.
Creating a nation of Pavel Morozovs.
Social pressure to support Russia's war has taken forms more sinister than Stakhanovite appeals for longer hours and heroic efforts to over-fulfill the plan. The spirit of Pavel Morozov is also reappearing, as Russian civil society breathes the corrosive atmosphere of informer culture. The Washington Post reports a Stalinesque surge in eavesdropping, informing, and denunciation. "Private conversations in restaurants and rail cars are fair game for eavesdroppers, who call police to arrest 'traitors' and 'enemies.' Social media posts, and messages — even in private chat groups — become incriminating evidence that can lead to a knock on the door by FSB agents," the Post writes. And the snitches have strong official support. "The effect is chilling, with denunciations strongly encouraged by the state and news of arrests and prosecutions amplified by propagandist commentators on federal television stations and Telegram channels. In March last year, Putin called on the nation to purge itself by spitting out traitors 'like gnats.' He has since issued repeated dark warnings about internal enemies, claiming that Russia is fighting for its survival."