• Past Event

The deeper the fake, the more dangerous: The disinformation potential of text-to-image generation

DATE
Sep. 29, 2022
TIME
8:00am – 9:00am EST 1:00pm GMT5:00am PST
LOCATION
Virtual

Event Organizer

Democracy Reporting International (DRI) was founded in 2006 by an international group of experts on democratic governance and elections.

Recognizing a gap in a field that was dominated by big intergovernmental organisations and commercial consultancies, they decided to form a non-governmental, independent organisation that could analyse democratic developments and advise on constitutional and electoral frameworks quickly and flexibly.

Over the years, DRI has broadened its work from research and analysis to direct engagement with partners on the ground to improve democratic structures and safeguards across the countries where they work. It has evolved from a part-time hobby for a handful of people to an organisation with around 100 staff, spread across eight countries and three continents.

Event Overview

The internet you know is already filled with disinformation that spreads like a digital wildfire. Artificial intelligence (AI) and synthetic content risk making things worse. If we don’t understand the problem and act upon it, the internet of the future will become a darker place.

It’s no dystopian scenario – it may soon become plausible with advancements in text-to-image generation. Research in this domain is rapidly evolving past current technological limitations to allow for the manufacturing of high-quality, photorealistic images used to produce fake evidence.

Democracy Reporting International’s (DRI) new report dives deeper into the application of text-to-image generation. We go beyond existing media manipulation to focus on fully synthetic, AI-powered content – evaluating in the process global threat scenarios, emerging models, the credibility of news and possible solutions.

On September, 29 2022, DRI hosted a virtual panel to provide an overview of the new report and debate how worried we should be about advancements in text-to-image generation. Panelists included:

  • Claire Leibowicz, Head of AI & Media Integrity, Partnership on AI
  • Shirin Anlen, Researcher and Media Technologist, WITNESS
  • Andy Parsons, Senior Director at Adobe’s Content Authenticity Initiative
  • Jan Nicola Beyer, Research Coordinator, Democracy Reporting International
  • Lena-Maria Böswald, Digital Democracy Programme Officer, DRI (moderator)
  • Beatriz Almeida Saab, Digital Democracy Research Associate, DRI (presentation)

PAI Representative

Claire Leibowicz

Head of AI and Media Integrity