We have been witnessing a rising crescendo of conversation happening around AI and fake images online. It’s always been an issue, Photoshop and all, but it feels like there’s a snowball effect happening; AI is moving at speeds that we just can’t comprehend or keep up with.
In May, during the Met Gala, my daughter and I scrolled through the Met Gala Instagram account to see the outfits. One post was of Katy Perry.
It turns out, we were tricked. She wasn’t at the event. That photo was fake. And while my daughter and I were fooled, so were many others sharing the photo, including the Met Gala Instagram page. This wasn’t the first time, apparently – in 2024 someone also created a fake photo of Katy Perry at the event, and this time she was in on the joke.
These AI Katy Perrys seem mostly harmless, although frustrating for all.
In other cases? Fake images fuel the spread of misinformation and hate, and can have serious consequences. Maybe the worst of these is that they create confusion about whether anything is real – and give people an excuse to ignore anything they don’t want to believe is true.
As parents in this modern world of social media and information at our fingertips, in our pockets, we try to teach our kids the importance of media literacy. To think critically about where a source is coming from (and trying to find more than one source), to not reshare something without confirming its authenticity and so on.
In the age of ‘Breaking News’ when everything feels like it’s urgent, not everything is even factual.
As conversations continue about the use of AI and social media, we keep hearing about the importance of media literacy education for all ages, not just young people. A recent MediaSmarts study found that adults over the age of 55 were more likely to believe false information and were less confident in their ability to identify false content compared to younger participants.
This is an issue for everyone to be concerned with.
MediaSmarts video and tipsheet, Spotting Deepfakes, gives three tips for identifying if something is a deepfake (and, just as importantly, for confirming that something isn’t one): do a reverse image search, check to see if anyone has already fact-checked it, and look for the source that it came from.
This resource is part of MediaSmarts Break the Fake program, which helps educate Canadians about spotting fake, false and misleading information with help from the house hippo we all know and love. This is a good place to start when looking for resources to help guide your conversations with kids, parents, or for yourself.
They offer four ways to check if something is true online:
- Use fact-checking tools
- Find the source
- Verify the source
- Check other sources
Examining how we consume and distribute online content is crucial, and discerning between real and fake information is becoming more difficult. Taking the steps now, as a family, to talk about this is one action you can take.