Have you ever wanted to avoid a video call? I know I would. With the help of AI, you may be able to do it someday! In an article – and accompanying video – entitled “I Challenged My AI Clone to Replace Me for 24 Hours” in the Wall Street Journal written by Joanna Stern, Stern conducted three experiments, each with the same AI avatar and voice, to determine the capabilities of the current AI technology applied to real life scenarios and describes her thoughts on the use of AI avatars.
The first test Stern conducted involved making a TikTok video using her avatar. Her viewers quickly noticed that it wasn’t really her because the AI avatar was so emotionless and her mouth movements didn’t match the words.
The second test was using “AI Joanna” to join a video conference call. The result was similar to the first experiment. The people on the video call even thought that Stern was a doll for a moment!
In the third and final test, Stern used artificial intelligence to try to access her bank account. Scary to say, it worked. Stern was able to get into her own bank account using her AI voice. This means that if nefarious people can get access to her voice, they may be able to steal the money from her bank accounts or get access to personal information posing as her with AI.
The ability to create AI versions of people using their voice and image along with being able to alter it creates so many possibilities. It can make life more convenient. Although the current technology is lacking, improvements are rapidly being made and the product is becoming more life-like. Once the technology gets to the point where it is more realistic, you will never have to get ready and dress up for video conference calls again; it will be so nice to stay in your pjs all day long.
This technology can also make work more efficient. People who make movies will no longer have to keep doing retakes, they can just use AI to make edits. Movies and video content will take much less time to make and allow more people to express themselves. You can make your imaginations come to life without the traditional barriers of needing to edit, special effects, costumes, etc.
While this is all great, it can also be dangerous. It would be scary to live in a world where you can’t distinguish between what is real and what is fake, what is the truth and what are lies. I would have to be suspicious of everything. How would I know that what I see in the news is not fake propaganda? What if video “evidence” was manufactured to frame people? Someone’s enemies could ruin their reputation by pretending to be them and saying or doing bad things.
The ability to recreate someone electronically will open the door to scams or replace an important work force. The ability to recreate someone electronically will open the door to scams or replace an important work force. If classes were online kids could use AI to pretend to be there. For proctored tests, the AI could make it seem like they are working when they are looking up answers. Additionally, AI bots could replace actors. I don’t want people to be out of jobs or be watching fake people all the time.
AI avatar technology can be menacing, and it is already being implemented. It is critical that security measures and safeguards be put in place to protect people and ensure that AI technology isn’t used negatively.
Article Title: I Challenged My AI Clone to Replace Me for 24 Hours
Article Author: Joanna Stern
Article URL: https://www.wsj.com/articles/i-cloned-myself-with-ai-she-fooled-my-bank-and-my-family-356bd1a3