And while it’s not perfect, it’s already more than good enough to give decent people nightmares.

The big difference is that these videos are amazingly convincing.

But don’t panicyet.

A stylish woman walks down a Tokyo street filled with warm glowing neon and animated city signage. She wears a black leather jacket, a long red dress, and black boots, and carries a black purse. She wears sunglasses and red lipstick. She walks confidently and casually. The street is damp and reflective, creating a mirror effect of the colorful lights. Many pedestrians walk about.

Screenshot from OpenAI’s Sora.OpenAI

We risk creating a world where anyone can believe anything, regardless of truth, with potentially devastating consequences.

What can we do about it?

“audio/video forensicsexpertAnthony Nelsontold Lifewire via email.

Historical footage of California during the gold rush

Screenshot from OpenAI’s Sora.OpenAI

More than good enough to fake, say, a presidential candidate doing or saying something that never happened.

Fortunately, Open AI has finally gotten ahead of the criticism.

“Social media platforms might be the best first step and educating its users on what they are seeing.

This hopefully will stop the spread of harmful AI-generated content at the source.”

Not All Bad

Depending on your point of view, it’s not all downside.

Being able to quickly generate videos is an incredible creative tool.

We’ve already seen the damage that can be done with ‘deepfakes.’

It’s scary to think how convincing AI-generated video content is getting.

“At the same time, I’m genuinely excited by the creative potential here.

Tasks that used to require weeks of work could be reduced to hours or minutes.

But how about this?

Which brings us to the other problem of AI media: it puts creative people out of work.

Where will all the ideas come from if the suits and their cubicle-farmed AI prompt writers are in charge?

Update 02/21/2024: Corrected the source’s title in paragraph 9.