You may have seen advertisements by Apple promoting its new Cleaning function which can be used to eliminate the elements in a photo. When one of these announcements attracted my attention this weekend, I was intrigued and I updated my software to try it.
The functionality has been available in Australia since December for Apple customers with some hardware and software capacities. It is also available for customers in New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The tool uses generative artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze the scene and suggest elements that could be distracting. You can see those highlighted in the screenshot below.
You can then press the suggested item to delete it or surround the elements to delete them. The device then uses generative AI to try to create a logical replacement based on the surrounding area.
Easier means to deceive
Smartphone photo editing apps have been around for more than a decade, but now you don’t need to download, pay or learn to use a new third party application. If you have an eligible device, you can use these features directly in the default photo application of your smartphone.
Apple cleaning joins a number of similar tools already offered by various technological companies. Those who have Android phones may have used Google Magic editor. This allows users to move, resize, recolor or delete objects using AI. Users with selection Samsung devices Can use their integrated photo gallery application to delete the elements in the photos.
There have always been ways – analog and, more recently, digital – to deceive. But integrate them into existing software free and easy to use facilitates these possibilities.
The use of AI to modify photos or create new images completely raises pressing questions around the reliability of photographs and videos. We count on the vision that these devices produce in everything, from the body of the police and the circulation cams to insurance complaints and by verifying the safe delivery of the packages.
If the progress of technology erodes our confidence in images and even video, we must rethink what it means to trust our eyes.
How can these tools be used?
The idea of eliminating distracting or unwanted elements can be attractive. If you have already gone to a crowded tourist hotspot, the removal of some of the other tourists so that you can focus more on the environment could be attractive (before and after the images below).
But beyond the elimination of distractions, how can these tools be used?
Some people use them to withdraw the filigrane. Filigranes are generally added by photographers or companies trying to protect their work against unauthorized use. Delete them makes user use less obvious but no less legal.
Others use them to modify the evidence. For example, a seller can modify a photo of a damaged property to allege that he was in good condition before shipment.
As the editing and generation of image tools become more widespread and easier to use, The list of uses Balloons proportionally. And some of these uses may be not very recommendable.
AI generators can now make the realistic appearance recipesFor example. People could then try to submit them to their employer to be reimbursed for expenses that are not really incurred.
Can we trust something?
Given these developments, what does it mean to have “visual proof” of something?
If you think that a photo can be modified, the zoom can sometimes reveal anomalies where the AI has stuffed. Here is a zoomed version of some of the areas where the cleaning function has generated new content that does not quite correspond to the old.
It is generally easier to manipulate an image than to convincingly modify several images of the same scene in the same way. For this reason, asking to see several outings that show the same scene from different angles can be a useful verification strategy.
Seeing something with your own eyes could be the best approach, although it is not always possible.
Doing additional research could also help. For example, with the case of a false receipt, does the restaurant exist even? Was it open the day shown on the receipt? Does the menu offer the allegedly sold items? Does the tax rate correspond to the region?
Manual verification approaches like the above obviously take time. Trust systems that can automate these trivial tasks are likely to gain popularity as the risks of publishing and generation of AI increase.
Likewise, there is a role for regulators to play To ensure that people do not use AI technology. In the European Union, Apple’s plan to deploy its Apple intelligence characteristics, which include the cleaning function, has been delayed due to “regulatory uncertainty“.
AI can be used to make our life easier. Like any technology, it can be used for good or bad. Be aware of what he is capable of and develop your Visual and media literatures is essential to be an informed member of our digital world.
Tj thomsonLecturer in visual communication and digital media, RMIT University
This article is republished from The conversation Under a creative communs license. Read it original article.
