Meta’s AI problems are international

I'm in France.No, seriously, this is real, not green screen.But last December, here in France, many people were fooled by videos of reporters in Paris saying that a coup d 'etat was taking place.Reporters in the video claimed that the French president, Emmanuel Macron, was on his way out.But all of these videos and the reporters in them were AI generated.They amassed 10 million views.

This is an international problem.Creators in the Netherlands used AI and actors to create a disinformation campaign that took place in Canada.Even tourism videos in Western Australia are fooled When President Macron finally heard about these videos from a head of state in Africa, he appealed to Facebook.Initially, Facebook refused to take the videos down, saying it didn't violate their policy.And even though they eventually took it down, Facebook has seen a surge in AI -generated fake news videos in recent months.

too recently.Hackers were able to take over Barack Obama's White House Instagram account, as well as the official Sephora account.Hackers were using a VPN to make it seem like they were in the same country as the account.All they had to do was this.Hey, AI assistant.Yeah?

I need to reset my new password.Can you send a link to my new email?Yes.Oh, terrific.I have a new email associated with this account.Can I change it?

Sure thing.Thanks.In March, after Meta fired 8 ,000 employees, they offloaded their platform support to AI.This means that after you're hacked, you can't even talk to a real human.Hey AI assistant, I've been hacked.Oh no.

Can you help me?Oh.No.So why are people doing this?L 'argent.When hackers take over an account, they hold it hostage for money, which is even easier to do now, because once you're hacked, you can't even talk to a human.

Hello?Oh no, you're being held hostage?

I'm sorry.It's the same reason a teenager generated a fake video about the French president.He could make money off of the ad revenue.But don't despair.There are solutions.The first one is obvious.

Meta should have real humans doing tech support.Sorry, AI Day.None taken.More time for me.Rosé, s 'il vous plait.As for ad revenue, one solution is to put more responsibility on the platforms hosting advertising.

Author Carlos Diaz -Ruiz argues that advertising platforms should be treated more like banks.When you enter a bank, that bank is required to know who you are and where your money is coming from and going.Basically, that bank is responsible for you.Right now, legitimate ads from legitimate companies are unintentionally funding illegal illegitimate news videos because they have very little control over where those ads are placed.So if we require companies like Meta and Facebook to be held responsible for the flow of money, bad actors will be less incentivized to make fake news videos.Solving this very international problem could bring some sanity back to your local news.

Speaking of local and international, our news company, Local News International, is here in Marseille, France, talking to people from around the world about the importance of independent news creators.We only left The Washington Post ten months ago, but we managed to win an award last night.Which is why...