Concern for the ability to tell what’s real and what’s not has risen along with the expansion of generative AI. But OpenAI CEO Sam Altman believes that the reality of an image is more of a sliding scale – and that generative AI will push the threshold for “how real does it have to be to be considered real.”
In an interview, video journalist and YouTuber Cleo Abram asked the OpenAI CEO how teenagers in five years will find out what’s real and what’s not, referencing a recent AI-generated video of bunnies on a trampoline that went viral – in part because it duped many viewers. Altman’s response pointed towards a sliding scale of reality, with generative AI as part of the gradual extension that digital cameras, editing, and processing algorithms have already played in determining how closely an image matches reality.
