Linkblog like it is 2024

First linkblog of 2024. The start of the year has been busy, so just two things I read over the last week that I think are worth recommending to you:

Slew of deepfake video adverts of Sunak on Facebook raisesof Sunak on Facebook raises alarm over AI risk to election

More than 100 deepfake video advertisements impersonating Rishi Sunak were paid to be promoted on Facebook in the last month alone, according to research that has raised alarm about the risk AI poses before the general election.

The adverts may have reached as many as 400,000 people – despite appearing to break several of Facebook’s policies – and mark the first time that the prime minister’s image has been doctored in a systematic way en masse.

2024 is an election year in many places around the world. And I suspect that we will se a lot of reporting like this, about how generative AI is a part of the election cycle in ways we haven't seen before.

This article in The Guardian touches upon one important thing: For deepfake content to have an impact, it isn't enough that it is created. It also has to be distributed.

ChatGPT’s FarmVille Moment

OpenAI is trying to turn ChatGPT into a platform. It’s deeply reminiscent of Facebook circa 2007. OpenAI has begun the hunt for its FarmVille.

This is one of the things around OpenAI that I think is most interesting right now. Not the company's models, but how they try to monetise them. The ambition to become a platform is apparent, but it's not always as easy as it might seem.