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Meta created a new rule specifying AI-generated content and labelled it “Made with AI.” The issue is that the tag is placed equally on images made entirely with AI and on images partly or at least to some extent processed with the assistance of AI tools. This has created controversy about the extent to which AI is sufficient to distort an image and has brought forth even more ambiguity about what is real and what is fantasy.
Isn’t it still fresh in your mind that the Pope is wearing a stylish puffer jacket? At first, it looked pretty standard, and we all assumed that we just slept on the Pope’s swag. However, it is worth pointing out that the particular headshot was later discovered to be the creation of AI.
If one looks at the picture a second time, paying close attention, it is easy to guess that it was made using AI, but nobody is browsing the web with that much concentration.
As more services providing avatar creation are developed, thousands, if not millions, of AI-generated images will be on the internet. Facebook already receives tons of AI images, and any other social platform will not lag.
Again, most people will not notice that AI makes these images and think they present the truth. With people going to the polls in the coming months and a falsehood being the order of the day, especially in the current world, now more than ever, one must discern between a lie and the truth.
With this in mind, Meta has begun indicating AI-produced images shared on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads to distinguish them from the rest promptly. However, not everybody agrees with how this strategy should be implemented.
Meta’s Labeling Lumps AI-Generated and AI-Assisted Together
There is a lot of controversy around Meta’s AI labelling because the company does not draw a line between creating photorealistic pictures and employing an AI procedure to modify an image. As far as Meta is concerned, it categorically places both together.
Many angered photographers have taken to social media forums to share instances of this happening to them. Another individual who grumbled about the feature in question was ex-White House photographer Pete Souza, who said he could not check the “Made with AI” box when sharing a picture of a basketball game he snapped.
It was recounted that another photographer, Peter Yan, had his photograph of Mount Fuji labelled “Made With AI” because he used a generative AI tool to eliminate a trash bin in the picture.
Is There a Difference Between AI-Generated and AI-Assisted?
The crux of the debate around Meta’s AI tag is whether it is fair to label images as “Made With AI” even when they have only been minimally edited with generative AI tools.
Understandably, photographers who use generative AI tools don’t want the label “Made With AI” anywhere near their work. The term is loaded, suggesting the scene is fabricated and implying they are profiting off the work of others, given that many AI programs are trained on copyrighted works without consent. Moreover, having their work labelled as “Made With AI” undermines the effort and skill involved in creating the final photo.
On the other hand, those in favour of Meta’s labelling argue that using any generative AI tool, no matter how small, introduces AI into the mix. Therefore, the photo is no longer an accurate representation of the scene it captured and should technically fall into the category of “Made With AI.”
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The anti-labelers counter that people have been editing photos forever. Is there a difference between removing the background of a photo with AI and using the magic wand? If Meta cares so much about portraying reality precisely as it is, shouldn’t a tag identify when a photo has been altered?
They point out that AI tools are now baked into everything from the “Space Zoom” on the Galaxy S20 Ultra to industry-standard photo editing apps like generative fill in Adobe Photoshop. By labelling images with minor AI adjustments as “Made With AI,” Meta creates a “boy who cried wolf scenario” where innocent images get labelled as “Made With AI,” causing people to lose trust in the label and making them more susceptible to the actual misinforming AI content.
Other people try to find a middle ground, suggesting a separate “AI-assisted” tag for images that have only been minimally altered with AI. However, that idea immediately runs into difficulties. How much AI modification should be allowed until a photo is considered “Made with AI?” And would such a system even serve any purpose? Couldn’t a malicious actor alter a small part of an image with AI to create a misleading scene?
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