We live in an era where the difference between real and artificial no longer startles us. Every day, it's there buzzing behind our screens and selfies. From avatars to synthetic voices and AI-generated images, the fake has become familiar and is an accepted part of our techno diet. But the more interesting question to me isn't how these illusions are made, it's why we all so easily believe them.
To take president Donald Trump's word for it, America's cities are in ruins, forcing him to deploy federal troops to Portland, Washington DC, and Memphis. There's just one wrinkle - no one seems to be able to find any real evidence of the mass riots and anarchist violence that Trump and his supporters insist is destroying the nation. Luckily for them, that problem is easily solved with a little help from AI.
According to YouTube posts, the celebrity tributes were plentiful. They came from Ed Sheeran, Eminem, Taylor Swift, Celine Dion, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Post Malone, Dax, Lil Wayne, Jelly Roll, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber and Imagine Dragons. But none of them were real. They were all generated using artificial intelligence. And they often featured fake thumbnail images that showed the artists in tears or with mournful expressions.
Many of these videos feature recognizable characters like SpongeBob cooking meth, raising the obvious question of whether the AI company was flagrantly ignoring copyright law. And as tons of Sora-made videos parodying Altman hit the web, including some that fake CCTV footage showing him committing crimes, the implication that the tech could easily be used to fabricate damaging videos of people without their permission couldn't be ignored.
The Friday video is only the latest jab in a duel that's come to epitomize the subterranean lows American political dialogue has reached. Trump has spent the past decade eroding political norms with a constant stream of name-calling, overstatements, outright lies and all-caps social media posts aimed at whoever crosses his mind. Newsom has recently responded in kind, with his own stream of rants and foul-mouthed social media posts, usually aimed at Trump or one of Trump's followers.
In case it hasn't been obvious enough, The Morning Show makes clear in "The Revolution Will Be Televised" that the dynamic shared between the series and its audience is very much the audience going "this show is insane, what could be more batshit than this?" and The Morning Show going "hold my beer." And then it does something like have the Iranian government go after Alex Levy with deepfakes.
A whopping 53 percent of just over 5,000 US adults polled in June think that AI will "worsen people's ability to think creatively." Fifty percent say AI will deteriorate our ability to form meaningful relationships, while only five percent believe the reverse. While 29 percent of respondents said they believe AI will make people better problem-solvers, 38 percent said it could worsen our ability to solve problems.
Italy has become the first country in the EU to approve a comprehensive law regulating the use of artificial intelligence, including imposing prison terms on those who use the technology to cause harm, such as generating deepfakes, and limiting child access. Giorgia Meloni's rightwing government said the legislation, which aligns with the EU's landmark AI Act, is a decisive move in influencing how AI is used across Italy.
But it excels at something far more powerful, and potentially sinister-editing existing images to add elements that were never there, in a way that's so seamless and convincing that even experts like myself can't detect the changes. That makes Nano Banana (and its inevitable copycats) both invaluable creative tools and an existential threat to the trustworthiness of photos-both new and historical.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere - in legal research tools, in "smart" assistants that draft contracts, and, if we're honest, probably in that partner's suspiciously polished brief. The legal profession can't avoid it, and neither can the insurance industry. But while cyber insurers are, somewhat surprisingly, holding firm on AI risks, other key coverage lines are quietly changing - and not in your favor.
In 2024, a scammer used deepfake audio and video to impersonate Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna and attempted to authorize a wire transfer, reportedly tied to an acquisition. Ferrari never confirmed the amount, which rumors placed in the millions of euros. The scheme failed when an executive assistant stopped it by asking a security question only the real CEO could answer. This isn't sci-fi. Deepfakes have jumped from political misinformation to corporate fraud. Ferrari foiled this one - but other companies haven't been so lucky.
"Remote work and advancements in AI have made it easier than ever for fake candidates to infiltrate the hiring process," said Scott McGuckin, vice president of global talent acquisition at Cisco. "Identifying these threats is our priority, which is why we are adapting our hiring process to include increased verification steps and enhanced background checks that may involve an in-person component.
Last year, Christopher Kohls posted a video in which Kamala Harris seemingly acknowledged being the ultimate diversity hire when Joe Biden chose her as his vice presidential running mate.
