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I’ll start this week with a confession: I hadn’t really spent much time thinking about AI (artificial intelligence) and how it may impact my day-to-day life, either personally or professionally.
Sure, I’d seen the occasional video pop up on my social media pages showing something that had clearly been cooked up by someone’s vivid imagination and then turned into reality, thanks to advanced technology.
And yes, I’d read a handful of stories warning how this new reality is eventually going to take us to a deep, dark place.
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But again, it wasn’t something that was on my radar. I’ve never tried using ChatGPT or any of the other tools that are now out there, and I have no plans to do so anytime soon.
Perhaps that makes me out-of-touch or stuck in the dark ages. Whatever. The only AI I’ve been focused on is Winnipeg Jets forward Alex Iafallo. He’s been really good, an all-around versatile player who was justly rewarded with a three-year contract extension last week. That’s a nice piece of business for both the player and the hockey club.
But then a funny thing happened on my way to believing AI and I would stay out of each other’s way.
“FROM TRAGEDY TO HERO!” blared the headline on my Facebook feed the other day, with a photo of Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck. It was from an apparent fan account called “Jets Flight Crew,” which I don’t follow, but the social media algorithms clearly thought I’d be interested in it given my career calling.
My first thought was, “Oh no, what huge story have I missed on the beat that someone else has broken for the world to see?”
Naturally, I began to read the accompanying text.
“After a newborn baby was heartbreakingly abandoned, Winnipeg Jets star Connor Hellebuyck made a life-changing decision. Just hours after a newborn baby was found abandoned, Winnipeg Jets star Connor Hellebuyck shocked the nation and warmed the hearts of millions around the world with an incredibly compassionate decision: he pledged to become the child’s legal guardian and pay all living and upbringing expenses until the child turns 18. From heartbreak to hope, one man’s kindness is rewriting this child’s future.”
Wait, what?!
I clicked on the page to investigate a bit further and was hit with a stream of similar posts that had all been made in the last few days. A few examples, which all included a series of photographs to really grab your attention.
BREAKING: Cole Perfetti Discovers That His High School Janitor Is Still Working at 80 – His Next Move Shocks Everyone! No one was prepared for what Cole Perfetti’s fans — or even his hometown — were about to experience during his unexpected visit to Windham High School, where he once studied. What started as a simple visit to reconnect with old teachers and staff quickly turned into a moment that left the entire community in tears.
WARM HEART: Superstar Kyle Connor for Winnipeg Jets founded a charity named after his parents in poor Angola, focusing on education and health care for poor children, leading people here to call him the “Elon Musk of Angola” — Fans are moved to tears by Kyle Connor’s generosity and love for children.
BREAKING: Single Mother Humiliated at Supermarket — Winnipeg Jets Star Gabriel Vilardi’s Shocking Action. At a Chicago supermarket, four fates intersected in a moment that would change their lives forever. Jasmine, a poor black single mother of just 20, was holding her 1-year-old son in her arms. What she didn’t expect was that her desperate plea for food would be met with the most brutal treatment by the manager — a man with a cold stare and a heart hardened by prejudice. But fate had a surprise in store: Winnipeg Jets star Gabriel Vilardi happened to be at the supermarket at that exact moment. What Gabriel Vilardi did when he witnessed this injustice left everyone around him in stunned silence — and forever changed the lives of Jasmine and her young son.
None of the above stories are true, of course. Not a single shred of them. It doesn’t take long to realize that they are part of a growing trend to grab clicks and views using AI to generate content.
The one about Perfetti, for example, even includes a generated image of an elderly man mopping the floor. One about Mark Scheifele paying the medical bills of 23 cancer patients includes a realistic photo of him in a hospital room with his arms around several bald patients.
“That’s wonderful,” one woman replied in the comments.
This Jets page shows a home base of Orlando, Fla., and currently has 5,800 followers. Sadly, at least some of those people truly believe what they are reading.
A post earlier this month claimed Netflix was going to be producing a new behind-the-scenes documentary on the Jets. There are 51 comments currently attached, with many of them saying things like “This is going to be awesome,” and “Let me know when it comes out.”
Still feel like this is all harmless fun?
On Wednesday, I began to see a video being shared on X that supposedly showed basketball player Caitlin Clark in the crowd at an Indiana Pacers game, chugging a beer and then ripping off her shirt, flashing her bra to the crowd. This never happened, of course, but it was generated by AI and looked realistic enough to fool plenty of people.
I shouldn’t need to underline just how scary this type of thing can be. You can imagine how this could be weaponized.
It was already difficult enough for many to distinguish between real and fake news.
I’m honestly not sure where we go from here. The horse is already out of the barn. It feels like we’ve created a monster that is now running wild.
I guess the lesson is to be more careful than ever about what you are consuming and what the source is. Support, more than ever, legitimate news providers with a rich history, rather than fly-by-night pop-ups and so-called “fan groups.” Check, double-check and triple-check what you are reading and seeing.
I’m going to resume trying to ignore all of it, realizing that’s likely an uphill battle. I suspect it won’t be long before emails begin asking why I’m missing so many heartwarming human-interest stories about the hockey club I cover, what with players like Iafallo saving a litter of puppies from a burning building on his way to practice.
Sigh.
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