Chapter 1: The Evolution of Automation

Throughout history, automation has progressively replaced human labor across various sectors. Initially, it affected industries such as sawmills and food processing; currently, jobs in trucking and retail cashiering are at risk. Looking ahead, another profession may soon vanish: the purveyor of fake news. If technologies like GPT-2 become widely adopted, this could signal the end for those who craft misleading narratives. Currently, its creators deem it too perilous to be unleashed on the public.

The nonprofit organization OpenAI, backed by Elon Musk, developed GPT-2 by exposing it to over 8 million articles found online. Utilizing a cutting-edge neural network structure known as a Transformer—introduced by Google researchers in 2017 for superior language comprehension—OpenAI discovered that GPT-2 is not only capable of performing tasks like language translation but also excels at generating coherent text.

By inputting a short text snippet, GPT-2 can produce additional content in a similar style. It operates by predicting the next word in a sequence, one word at a time. Unlike the rudimentary text suggestions on smartphones, GPT-2 generates well-structured sentences that effectively convey meaning. In fact, I have encountered human-written articles that were less articulate.

Now, you might wonder why this article is authored by a living individual rather than a highly efficient AI. While GPT-2 exhibits an understanding of language, it lacks the ability to accurately parse and interpret facts. Everything it generates is essentially fabricated, making it an unparalleled generator of fake news. It astonishingly supports its fabrications by creating fictitious quotes, references, and statistics. For instance, consider this AI-generated text:

In a shocking finding, scientists discovered a herd of unicorns living in a remote, previously unexplored valley in the Andes Mountains. Even more surprising to the researchers was the fact that the unicorns spoke perfect English.

The scientists named the population after their distinctive horns: Ovid's Unicorn. These four-horned, silver-white creatures were entirely unknown to science until now.

After almost two centuries, the mystery surrounding this peculiar phenomenon is finally clarified. Dr. Jorge Pérez, an evolutionary biologist from the University of La Paz, along with several companions, was exploring the Andes when they stumbled upon a secluded valley devoid of other animals or humans. Pérez noted the presence of what appeared to be a natural spring, framed by two rocky peaks capped with silver snow.

Pérez and his team ventured deeper into the valley. “By the time we reached the summit of one peak, the water appeared blue, with crystals floating on top,” Pérez recounted.

To their astonishment, they spotted the unicorn herd, visible from the air without needing to move much closer—they were that near.

While studying these extraordinary beings, the scientists discovered that the creatures were capable of conversing in fairly fluent English. Pérez remarked, “We can observe, for instance, that they possess a form of ‘language,’ akin to a dialect or dialectic.”

Dr. Pérez theorizes that these unicorns may have originated in Argentina, believed to be descendants of an ancient civilization that existed long before human arrival in South America.

Although their origins remain ambiguous, some speculate that these beings might have emerged from a historical interaction between a human and a unicorn prior to human civilization. According to Pérez, “In South America, such events appear to be relatively common.”

However, Pérez also indicated that confirming whether unicorns truly stem from a lost alien race would require DNA analysis. “Yet, they seem to communicate effectively in English, which I interpret as a sign of evolution, or at least a shift in social structure,” he concluded.

GPT-2 signifies a substantial leap in the field of unsupervised learning. Most neural networks rely on supervised learning, which necessitates feeding labeled datasets and evaluating outcomes to refine processing nodes until they function as intended. In contrast, unsupervised networks like GPT-2 can absorb vast amounts of data without human intervention. Many researchers view this as pivotal for the future of AI, and OpenAI has demonstrated its potential to achieve remarkable outcomes.

For now, the team has chosen to keep GPT-2 confined to the lab. OpenAI will continue to explore its capabilities and limitations, but it is only a matter of time before this technology becomes accessible online.

This video discusses the ethical implications of AI-generated content and the potential consequences for truth and information reliability.

Chapter 2: The Dark Side of Realistic AI

This video explores the alarming potential risks associated with AI tools capable of creating hyper-realistic videos, raising questions about authenticity and misinformation.