Vox: How fake AI images can expand your mind

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.