From New York Times
OpenAI’s Sora Makes Disinformation Extremely Easy and Extremely Real
By Tiffany Hsu, Stuart A. Thompson and Steven Lee Myers
In its first three days, users of a new app from OpenAI deployed artificial intelligence to create strikingly realistic videos of ballot fraud, immigration arrests, protests, crimes and attacks on city streets — none of which took place.
The app, called Sora, requires just a text prompt to create almost any footage a user can dream up. Users can also upload images of themselves, allowing their likeness and voice to become incorporated into imaginary scenes. The app can integrate certain fictional characters, company logos and even deceased celebrities...
“It’s worrisome for consumers who every day are being exposed to God knows how many of these pieces of content,” said Hany Farid, a professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, and a co-founder of GetReal Security. “I worry about it for our democracy. I worry for our economy. I worry about it for our institutions.”
Dr. Farid, the Berkeley professor, said Sora was “part of a continuum” that had only accelerated since Google unveiled its Veo 3 video generator in May.
Even he, an expert whose company is devoted to spotting fabricated images, now struggles at first glance to distinguish real from fake, Dr. Farid said...
Hany Farid is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences and the School of Information at UC Berkeley.
