(Cartoon with caption: Pan Hongyu)
"Guangzhou restricted delivery", "Henan Xinyang Central Stadium collapsed", "Gansu Red Cross Society charged 1.6 million yuan for the management of warm handbags"... These heavy "news" of the so-called "pictures and facts" have been widely spread on the Internet and attracted a large number of netizens' attention.
Surprisingly, the police found after the investigation that these sensational "news" were network rumors made by criminals using AI! Although the police urgently refuted rumors and clarified the facts, rumors have taken a large part of the lead in the truth, which has convinced many people and caused great trouble to the parties concerned.
The Internet, supported by AI, brings new opportunities to enrich people's life scenes and improve production efficiency. However, when rumors are covered by AI, rumors and truth are more difficult to identify, the threshold and cost of rumor making are greatly reduced, and the efficiency and impact of dissemination are multiplied, becoming a new network subject in urgent need of governance.
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Recently, the police in many places reported a number of typical cases of AI rumor making.
In December last year, a 6.2 magnitude earthquake occurred in Jishishan, Gansu Province. Zhang used AI software to fabricate false information such as "Gansu Red Cross purchases warm handbags and charges 1.6 million yuan for management" and "Gansu law enforcement team detains disaster relief trucks", which was released through multiple network platforms, causing serious impact on local earthquake relief work.
In February this year, Du used AI technology to fabricate a short video of "a famous actress died with ill luck and hatred", which was widely spread after being uploaded to the Internet and seriously affected the life and reputation of the parties involved.
According to a recently concluded case, criminals used AI technology to produce about 10000 fake video news in a short time, using hot news and random online videos as the material, of which more than 20 videos were released, involving multiple provinces, with more than one million views.
A report released by the New Media Research Center of the School of Journalism and Communication of Tsinghua University in April this year shows that the economic field has become a high incidence of AI rumors, and the livelihood industries such as catering, express delivery and distribution are the hardest hit areas of AI rumors.
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When online rumors encounter AI, the latter's features of low cost, high efficiency and simple operation make mass production of rumor videos possible. The video form of AI rumors also fits in with the cognition of some netizens that "where there are pictures and videos, there is truth", which makes AI rumors often spread quickly once they are online.
Judging from the typical cases seized, "eye suction and drainage" and "cash for profit" are frequently mentioned by lawbreakers.
In the era of We Media, the "attention economy" provides many people with opportunities to become rich. However, some people believe in "flow first". They dare to use any technology and any means for flow. They even regard breaking the moral bottom line and trampling on the legal red line as "flow code". Novelty hunting, gossip, vulgarity, fabricating fake news, etc. have become tools to pursue flow.
AI rumor mongering has spawned black and gray industrial chains.
Last year's National Day holiday, after the "4-year-old girl lost by the sea", the Shanghai police found more than 10 We Media accounts that spread false information such as "the lost girl was discarded", and killed a "water army" gang in further investigation. With the help of AI technology, the gang produced fake posts in batches, forwarded a lot of hype, and illegally earned more than 40000 yuan.
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According to the aforementioned research report of Tsinghua University, more than 80 AI related rumor cases were counted, and it was found that the largest proportion of the cases involved was administrative punishment, including fines and administrative detention, accounting for about half; However, less than two percent of those who implement criminal detention and sentencing; The rest are blocked accounts, information cleaning, criticism and education.
Compared with the damage caused by rumors, many netizens believe that the punishment of rumors is not rigid enough. Only by further improving laws and regulations and implementing more powerful punishment, can we play a deterrent role and curb the spread of AI rumors in the black ash industry.
The main responsibility of the relevant network platform of AI rumor spread should not be forgotten. Increase investment in human resources, financial resources, technology and other aspects, show more initiative in content screening, rumor interception, proliferation prevention and other aspects, resolutely block the rumor transmission chain, and earnestly shoulder social responsibility.
Follow the mass line, mobilize netizens, stimulate netizens' enthusiasm to report AI rumors, and jointly build an iron wall against the spread of AI rumors.
Only in this way can AI, a new production tool, take advantage of its strengths and circumvent its weaknesses, and contribute more positive force to social development and progress instead of helping the production and dissemination of rumors. (Reporter Lu Chang)