Dealing with artificial intelligence requires media education – 11/09/2023 – Education

In the week in which Beatles fans were presented with an unreleased song by the band, recovered and edited using artificial intelligence, a case of image manipulation terrified the school community at Colégio Santo Agostinho, in Rio de Janeiro. A group of students created photo montages of several classmates to appear naked, based on the girls’ original posts on social media. As? Also using artificial intelligence.

The two episodes give us some clues as to what we are starting to face — and which tends to become more and more sophisticated — with the development of applications and technological resources that are increasingly accessible and, as the term itself suggests, intelligent, progressively approaching of the ways in which we humans reason.

The potential of what we call artificial intelligence is still enigmatic and, therefore, frightening. Some scientists’ predictions are even apocalyptic, insinuating that it could lead to our extinction as a species. There are also, of course, those who see this position as exaggerated.

In any case, the debate on the regulation of these technological advances is not only necessary but urgent. This is because some consequences are already felt in society, and in different ways, that go beyond the privilege of being able to hear perfectly, in 2023, the voice of John Lennon, who died in 1980.

It’s not new that people talk about the destructive capacity that deepfakes can have on people’s reputations, especially women, due to the creation of fake pornographic content — the most recent famous victim was actress Isis Valverde.

What is shocking in the case of the Rio school, and also in another similar complaint in a private school in Recife (PE), is the realization that the creation of illicit synthetic media is within the reach of children and adolescents. Therefore, it is necessary to recognize that, unfortunately, these are not and will not be the last occurrences of this type.

This debate must go beyond possible punishments against minors for crimes of this type. It is necessary to prevent and, obviously, educate on the ethical use of new technologies, which includes the infinite possibilities that artificial intelligence brings us.

However, part of the problem is that adults themselves have not been educated to deal with all of this. Mothers, fathers, guardians and teachers don’t know exactly what to do when they see children and students involved in criminal conduct on digital platforms. There is a lack of understanding of the role of each actor in this collective pact in favor of building citizenship for the connected world.

Families must exercise control over what children and young people download, see, say and publish on social networks and messaging applications, reinforcing that values ​​such as ethics, respect and empathy precede the moment we are living in: they are valid in perpetuity. Schools, in turn, cannot ignore reality: they must support the development of skills and competencies that enable students (and future citizens) to use the digital environment critically and responsibly, safely and without causing harm.

While machines are learning to be human, we need to learn to protect ourselves from the many risks this process poses. We are moving towards a context in which distinguishing between what is real and what is not will become practically impossible, in proportions never seen before. If we do not teach the new generations not only to distrust the content they receive, but also not to create images that cause exposure and suffering to acquaintances and strangers, some of the pessimistic predictions about the dangers of artificial intelligence may actually come true.