AI-generated spam is starting to fill social media. Here's why

Perhaps it's because deep down, we love this AI-generated spam.

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Casey Morris, an attorney in Northern Virginia, recently started checking Facebook again after a long break. Among posts from friends and family, she noticed a strange trend.

"The caption will say, 'Close your eyes 70% and see magic.' And without squinting at all, it's very obviously sort of an image of Jesus, but it will be made up of, like, vegetables and a tractor and a little girl that are sort of distorted," she said.

That wasn't the only oddity in Morris' feed. Similar pictures with identical captions recurred. So did different, more emotionally exploitative posts depicting disabled mothers and children in the mud or smiling amputees, with captions asking for a birthday wish.

"It has made Facebook a very bizarre, very creepy place for me," Morris said.

Between their subject matter, stylistic clues and odd errors, it quickly became obvious to Morris that these images were fake — the products of artificial intelligence.

They're not being posted by people she knows or follows. Instead, Facebook is suggesting she might be interested in them — and they seem to be really popular.

"They're getting thousands of reactions and thousands of comments [from] people who seem to think they're real, so wishing them a happy birthday or saying something religious in the comments," she said.

 

He just wants to see the Rockets win a championship. One like equals one amen.

 

U got 2 know how I feel.

 

@KingCheetah made this with his own hands