It’s time for a zero-trust approach to “news”, argues the very real Jon Honeyball.
It was a watershed moment. I’m
not too sure what brought it on – maybe the rather nice gin and
tonic I was enjoying in Virgin
Upper Class on my flight to Los
Angeles en route to CES? But I’ve
drunk many gin and tonics and
they’ve never had this effect before.
Yet there, undeniably, it was. As real
as the bubbles surrounding the slice
of lemon, the realisation that I
couldn’t trust most anything on the
internet any more.
This might seem like a trivial
matter. A “doh!” moment that’s
obvious to many. But having been
around in the online world since well
before the internet existed in its
current form, I have always felt an
underlying bedrock of trust.
That trust has gone. It’s not just the
rise of AI-generated audio and video,
where the creation of a deepfake is a
few mouse clicks away; it’s the
underlying worry that almost
everything generated by a GPT-style
LLM is another layer of obfuscation
and fog. I know some will give links
through to the underlying site from
where a particular “fact” was scraped,
but when I visit those sites I often
conclude that the source words were
just concocted by another AI engine.
That video you’ve just watched?
It might have looked authentic, but
Hollywood-grade imaging is now
available on your phone, let alone
your desktop. The fakery goes deeper
and deeper, and at some point we
have to say “stop!”
My hackles rose a further inch
when I read that the CEO of Suno, an
AI music site, claimed that musicians
don’t actually enjoy making music.
Apparently, it’s just so much more
“fun” to have software write it for us.
Those hackles only sharpen when I
think about the ease with which AI
can create kind-of Beatles-ish music.
And that many people download it,
whether they think it’s the real thing
or it simply scratches their Beatle itch.
I won’t engage with AI-generated
content, simply because it’s a rising
level of noise that my head can’t cope
with. The issue is not whether
AI-generated content is good or not –
it’s that there is already too much of it,
and it’s only going to get worse.
AI isn’t the only problem: my trust
in so-called news has also evaporated.
Now anyone with a smartphone can be
a social newscaster; the age of
professionalism, where cost and effort
went into training journalists,
has been replaced by the faux
professionalism of a slickly
made video that anyone can
create. And that video can
circle the world via social
media quicker than you can
say “tap to view”, whether
it’s real or not.
Meanwhile, platforms
are claiming that they are
the one true source, that
they are “open” and support “free
speech” while simultaneously
shutting down editorial management,
unhindered by any semblance of
responsibility for the content on their
site. Do you really have the time,
energy and emotional strength to get
involved in a “discussion” on Twitter,
when you consider the pile-on that
can happen from those who are sure
you’re wrong? It’s school-yard
bullying taken to a global scale.
It’s fine if you’re JK Rowling and
have the finances and moral grit to
take this on. But mere mortals are in a
far more fragile position.
All of this means I’m not posting
to social media any more. I had hopes
for Bluesky, but while it’s better
than Twitter, it’s still not good
enough. My Facebook world is
heavily locked down, but even
that is now flooded with adverts –
yesterday, one in two postings was
an advert, and this is not a level of
signal to noise that I can cope with.
So what’s the answer, other than to
retreat into our caves? Simple: find
outlets where the journalist puts their
name, face and preferably an email
address to their words. Get to know
what they think and why. Almost
everyone has biases and some form of
agenda, but that’s true of everything.
Get over it. We need to relearn how to
listen to conversations, to interact
without erupting in a blaze of anger.
Mainstream media is full of flaws,
but at least there’s someone there with
a pulse who is prepared to put a point
of view based on some semblance of
fact. It takes effort, it takes resources,
it takes time. And it takes investment
in the craft of reporting.
Is the mainstream media always
right? Of course not. But it’s time to
assume that everything else is rubbish,
without value, unless you have reason
to assess otherwise. Give upticks for
the genuine people who put in effort,
and actively shun the rest. The noise
simply isn’t worth the effort.
In the meantime, thanks for coming
along for this particular ride. These
words were written by me on a Sunday
afternoon, pondering where this
industry, and the global information
future, goes. Because it matters and I
care about it. And if you disagree, I’d
be delighted to hear from you. I
promise I’ll do my best to answer.
Jon Honeyball isn’t really a contributing
editor to PC Pro but a cyborg AI engine who worries a lot.
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