--- title: "AI Industry Insider Claims They Can No Longer Tell Apart Real and Fake" description: "Dream Within a Dream The people building the next iteration of artificial intelligence technology are growing concerned with how lifelike the next generation of generative content has already become. In an interview with Axios, an unnamed industry source said that in private tests, experts can no longer tell whether AI-generated videos are real or fake, […]" date: "2023-11-10" modified: "2023-11-10" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/ai-insider-real-fake" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai video" - "disinformation" - "reality" - "the digest" --- # AI Industry Insider Claims They Can No Longer Tell Apart Real and Fake ![The people building new AIs are growing concerned with how lifelike the next generation of generative content has already become. ]() *Engineer designing AI technology with reflection on eyeglasses \Image: Westend61/Getty Images\* ## Dream Within a Dream The people building the next iteration of AI technology are growing concerned with how lifelike the next generation of generative content has already become. In an [interview with *Axios*](), an unnamed "leading AI architect" said that in private tests, experts can no longer tell whether AI-generated imagery is real or fake, which nobody expected to be possible this soon. As the report continues, AI insiders expect this kind of technology to be available for anyone to use or purchase in 2024 — even as social media companies are [weakening their disinformation policies]() and [slashing the departments]() that work to enforce them. This kind of anonymous sourcing should, of course, be taken with a grain of salt. Whoever gave *Axios* that tidbit may well have a vested interest in marketing scary-yet-tempting generative AI tech, or they might just be another AI industry booster who's [gotten high on their own supply](). But with an almost certainly contentious presidential election coming up and the latest Israel-Hamas conflict already acting as a [battleground for AI disinformation](), there certainly is [cause for legitimate concern](). ## Regulatory Blues We've known for a while now that AI image generators are rapidly becoming sophisticated enough to [fool casual viewers](), and experts have for most of 2023 been [ringing alarm bells]() about how unsettling this effect is going to become. Indeed, President Joe [Biden apparently got really freaked out]() by the prospect of killer AI when watching the new "Mission: Impossible" — a sequence of events that just happened to occur before the White House issued an [expansive-yet-vague executive order]() about AI. "If he hadn’t already been concerned about what could go wrong with AI before that movie," deputy White House chief of staff [Bruce Reed told *PBS* last week](), "he saw plenty more to worry about." While we're admittedly very far from the kind of evil godlike algorithms depicted in the new "Mission: Impossible," the Biden White House and Congress have proffered that in the short term, [watermarks on AI-generated videos]() can help us tell fake from real. According to experts, however, [watermarking doesn't really work]() and is very easy to fake or break, too. We may well [look back on 2023]() as the year that [AI began taking over]() pretty much everything — and if the warnings of *Axios*' unnamed source are to be believed, our current concerns [may soon feel quaint](). **More on AI:** [*Unemployed Man Uses AI to Apply for 5,000 Jobs, Gets 20 Interviews*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()