Who Bears the Costs of Fake AI Images and Misinformation Online?
‘Mermaid Pit Bull’ is an example of AI slop, which are low-quality AI-generated images produced primarily for engagement and profit. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
Letters & Science Magazine at University of California Davis
Shrimp Jesus plunged AI-generated viral images into the big mainstream sea two years ago with a full net of images of the Christian son of God mashed up with the crustacean that drove Red Lobster into bankruptcy.
The images of a deep-sea prophet were nearly impossible to ignore when they washed up on our virtual shores. This made creating those fake AI images highly profitable for social accounts willing to generate this special brand of AI slop, which is low-quality content produced by AI.
Shrimp Jesus is part of a larger ecosystem of fake AI images. Cuihua (Cindy) Shen, a UC Davis professor of communication who studies online misinformation, said this ecosystem has pushed us into uncharted territory. She describes AI slop and misinformation as a systemic problem a lot like environmental pollution. Dealing with it individually shifts the cost of misinformation from online platforms to each of us with a need for constant skepticism.
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