Vox: How fake AI images can expand your mind
UC‘s Tony Chemero gives commentary on AI-generated images
According to Vox, philosophers contend that image-generating AI will allow us to see realistic depictions of what does not yet exist, expanding the kinds of futures we can imagine as visual realities.
Pope Francis in a white puffer jacket from u/trippy_art_special’s post on the Midjourney subreddit
The article centers around an AI-generated image of the Pope wearing a puffer jacket, which went viral on social media. The image fooled some, but not others, because the image had giveaways that it was not real (i.e., blurred lines). Many contend that AI will likely advance to create perfect images and create a “hyper-reality.”
Philosopher and cognitive scientist Tony Chemero, a UC professor of philosophy and psychology and member of the Center for Cognition, Action, and Perception, is quoted in the article as saying that it might not be a bad thing to have more visual information, even if it is altered reality. He and others contend that AI makes it easier for the mind to include new possibilities in how it imagines the world, reducing the barriers to believing that they could become a lived reality.
Chemero’s views on how humans can expand their thinking by interfacing with technology (“Smart technology is not making us dumber”) are widely publicized and elicited hundreds of media citations nationally and internationally:
UC philosopher and cognitive scientist Tony Chemero. Photo/Joseph Fuqua/UC Creative + Brand.
Chemero also told Vox that any tool that changes how we interact with the world also changes how we understand ourselves, adding: “Especially what we understand ourselves as being capable of.”
Featured image at top: Markus Spiske/Unsplash
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