Believe - don't believe, or Is artificial intelligence creating our future, or just a new illusion of its own reality to which we will all move over time?
AI as a tool for innovation
In medicine, AI helps diagnose diseases, for example, it can detect tumours on X-rays better than humans, and in drug production it increases efficiency and reduces costs. In science, it accelerates the discovery of new materials or ways to produce energy. In the world of finance, AI helps detect fraud, analyse markets and recommend the best investment strategies. In the automotive industry, it powers autonomous vehicles that learn to react to traffic situations, contributing to much safer transport. In education, AI can create personalized learning programs that adapt to the pace and needs of individual students.
In addition, AI is increasingly being applied in creative fields. It can fantastically mimic a human painting, compose music or write a short story. There are even AI models that generate virtually perfect artistic photographs and graphics based on just a few typed words. While this is fascinating, it's also a little worrying: if AIs soon learn to create in exactly the same way as humans, where will the line be between original human creation and artificially generated content? And who will actually determine it?
AI as creator of illusion
Artificial intelligence today can create photos and videos that even experts have trouble distinguishing from those that humans have worked to create. I'm sure you've come across a deepfake video of a famous Czech celebrity offering you incredible winnings or the perfect investment. Many people may laugh at this, but the truth is that everyone's discernment is different and many people have fallen for this scam and lost their saved money.
This phenomenon poses a significant risk not only to our wallets, but also to our security. These videos and photographs are and will be used to spread disinformation, to manipulate elections or even to blackmail. AI tools are becoming more sophisticated and accessible to more people, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish reality from fiction.
And not only that. The world is moving ever closer to the concept of metaverse, virtual worlds where people can work, play and interact socially. AI plays a key role here in creating realistic environments and avatars that can mimic the expressions and movements of real people.
AI can even generate completely fake personas - people who never existed but have complete digital identities, including fictional social profiles and histories. One of the most recent examples is AI models who are becoming stars of social media and advertising campaigns. These digitally created personalities, such as Lil Miquela, have millions of followers and work with luxury brands just like real celebrities. Their creators make astronomical amounts of money from them without having to deal with any of the costs associated with human activity.
What is reality?
It used to be that what we see with our own eyes is the truth. Today it is not so clear. A whole new philosophical question has also emerged: if AI creates something that is indistinguishable from reality, isn't that actually a new reality in itself?
AI is now able to "reanimate" actors who are no longer with us. For example, in the movie "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story", the character of Grand Moff Tarkin, originally portrayed by actor Peter Cushing, was brought to life by AI. His face was digitally reconstructed and added to the film, sparking for the first time a larger debate about the ethical limits of such use of new technology.
Another controversial case was the use of AI to create a younger version of Robert De Niro in "The Irishman". Similarly, Carrie Fisher was brought to life in a car advert, causing much controversy among her fans.
But what if it wasn't just about putting an actor in a short segment of a classically made film? What if there was a whole new movie with, say, Marilyn Monroe, that looked completely authentic? Would it be a fraud or a whole new kind of art? And what impact would it have on the ethics of the film industry?
AI brings enormous opportunities, but also challenges. It can help us understand the world better, simplify our lives, but also change what we believe to be true. It is up to us how we use these technologies. As AI becomes more sophisticated, the question is whether we will end up trapped in a world so compelling that there will be no escape. If everything around us - faces, voices, environments - can be generated and modified at will, will we still be able to distinguish fact from fiction? And what if we already live in such a reality without realizing it?
