Searching for reality in an unreal world

By STEVE BRAWNER

As the world becomes increasingly unreal thanks to artificial intelligence, we’ll all need to seek reality wherever we can find it – in nature, in face-to-face relationships, and in trustworthy sources of information like the local news outlet you are reading now. 

Let’s start by noting that Americans have been spending too much time in unreality for about 70 years, ever since television took over our evenings and weekends. Then came computers and smart phones, allowing us to be mindlessly entertained wherever we went. At least we generally could tell when we were watching a show.

Now, artificial intelligence increasingly can create alternative, unreal worlds that are difficult to distinguish from reality. OpenAI’s Sora AI model lets users generate realistic video content simply by writing text. I tried it by typing, “Three dogs sitting beneath a Christmas tree sing Silent Night. There’s a fireplace in the background. The tree is strung with lights, and there are gifts around the tree.” It got everything right except it had the wrong song, and the dogs’ lips weren’t synced to the lyrics. But I was using the free version and didn’t know what I was doing. 

Unlike previous technologies, AI-generated videos can look like real life. Some of the videos I’ve seen have virtually no “uncanny valley,” which is the creepy feeling we get when something looks almost human, but not quite.  

As reported by ABC News, OpenAI says it is taking steps to prevent use by young people (it asked for my birthday), ensure public figures’ images and likenesses aren’t generated, and include a visible watermark to show the video is created by Sora. 

But it’s not hard to imagine how bad actors, such as criminal networks or operations based in Russia or China, won’t include those supposed safeguards.

We’re all at risk now of having our personal characteristics used without our consent in ways that have never been possible before. For example, scammers can now clone our voices, call our family members, and ask for money. To combat the crime, it’s a good idea to create a secret code that only family members know. 

The 2024 presidential election may have been the last where voters could trust video footage of the candidates. Doctoring and selective editing have long been with us, but generally speaking, if we thought we saw a candidate say something, they probably said it.

Now, political opponents will be able to generate compromising AI videos of each other. Meanwhile, guilty candidates caught on camera will be able to falsely claim they were AI victims. It will be the 21st century version of “I was misquoted.” As lines between the real and the artificial become blurred, voters can become like the biblical Pontius Pilate, passively washing our hands of the matter and asking, “What is truth?”

If there’s an antidote to this spreading disease, it’s reality itself.  

While we can no longer believe what we’re seeing on the screen, we can still largely rely on what we see in real life. That means intentionally spending more time in nature, where the beauty can’t be duplicated. It means de-emphasizing online relationships and re-emphasizing face-to-face ones, inefficient as that may be. As citizens and community members, we might go see what a candidate has to say in person, rather than rely on 30-second attack ads and party labels. Folks traveled to see Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debate in 1858, when neither even had a microphone.

While that’s not always feasible, we should get our news from reliable sources such as the local news outlet you are reading now. These feature stories are produced by humans who actually attend city council and school board meetings, interview public figures, and tell you what’s happening in your community. Local news outlets provide a healthy dose of authenticity in an artificial time.

Unfortunately, reality has its own imperfections. No one edits out the boring and tedious parts. Life doesn’t come with a musical soundtrack that amplifies our emotions. Progress occurs incrementally and haltingly, and problems don’t get resolved before the closing credits. Most people are not always the good guy or the bad guy. Instead, most can be both in the same day. In the real world, we can’t keep scrolling until something amusing pops up. We can’t always find another link to click.

Even with reality’s boring imperfections, it’s best that we spend more time in it, and more time understanding it. The more time we spend in unreality, the less real we will be. 

Real reality is better than the artificial kind, anyway. True, real dogs can’t sing. They can, however, curl up in your lap.

Steve Brawner’s column is syndicated to 20 outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com.