You can’t make this sh*t up. Wait, yes you can

Remember when we used to be able to take things at face value?

Artificial Intelligence has turned us all into amateur sleuths, trying to sort the chaff from the hay on social media. And it’s exhausting.

From a Donald Trump mugshot to a cow casually bouncing on a trampoline, I, for one, can’t for the life of me make out what’s real and what’s fake anymore.

Seeing is no longer believing. Same goes for hearing.

Long before Thy the AI-generated CADA host was exposed as a robot, the poster girl for cloning was Dolly the sheep.

How far we’ve come.

Dolly must be rolling in her grave.

But when the Temu knock-off version avails itself to journalists and the fakery finds its way into news, that’s whole different AI ball game.

When Hurricane Melissa wreaked havoc on Jamaica last month, fake content creators spread a generous layer of mayo on top. Social media feeds were inundated with photos and videos of huge trees being ripped clean out of the ground and sharks swimming through the waterlogged streets.

Extraordinary stuff to behold. Except it wasn’t real.

Later analysis found many of these images were the work of AI.

Armed with advance warning, fake news creators had time to edit past storm footage together, creating compelling scenes of devastation which drove traffic to their accounts.

The above ‘Before and After’ shots of the Jamaican town Black River were shared hundreds of thousands of times.

As US TV meteorologist Brooks Garner noted: “Historically, ‘Before and After’ photos helped raise awareness and support for recovery.”

“These are made to generate clicks and engagement.”

Apart from potentially distorting news coverage, it does raise a rather sinister question: Isn’t the actual footage of human and property destruction enough to tell the story?

Have we become so desensitised to real tragedy that it’s no longer enough for us?

It does make you wonder where all this ‘enhancement’ will end.

This article is brought to you by Radio Release.