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How to Detect AI Images (and why it doesn't matter)

2024-01-12 · explainer · Hank · 5:21 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Internet & YouTube · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook, fundraising ask, calendar ritual, self promotion

After Magic: The Gathering's Twitter account insisted an AI-generated background was human-made, Hank gives three steps for spotting AI images, the last being that none of it matters: detection tricks will soon fail, and the real question is when and why we choose to scrutinize anything. He then plugs the P4A matching fund.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Magic: The Gathering's human-art promise and its Twitter account's AI-looking background image

  • ★★ Hank calls himself a sidelines fan of Magic: The Gathering, which he started playing in the 90s; he no longer understands it but watches games on YouTube and follows its news. — 00:00:00 · YouTube
  • ★★ Hank says every Magic card since the game began has featured art by a human artist, building a strong relationship between fantasy artists and the company. — 00:00:12
  • ★★ Hank says the company behind Magic has said it will never use AI-generated images as card art. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ The Magic Twitter account posted an image of card reprints whose background looked AI-generated; when people noticed, the account doubled down that a human made it. — 00:00:33 · Twitter

00:00:58 — Steps one and two for spotting AI images: how was it made, look at details (the gauge)

  • ★ Hank finds it weird that someone looked at the image and thought it seemed made by a person. (playful) — 00:00:58
  • ★★ Step one: look at the image and ask how it would have been made; before generative AI he would have assumed a composite of photos, stock photos and digital painting. — 00:01:12
  • ★★ Step two: look at small parts close up rather than the whole; in the Magic image odd protrusions, double-filament lamps and wires make no sense. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ Hank says AI is currently terrible at letters and numbers. — 00:01:56
  • ★★ Hank says the gauge's crisp numbers look photoshopped over a messed-up AI gauge, and a reverse image search found the exact gauge used. — 00:02:05

00:02:08 — Step three, none of this matters: tricks will fail and we only scrutinize what raises flags (Hasbro, the Puffer Pope)

  • ★★★ The final and most important step, Hank says, is to recognize that none of this matters, for two reasons. — 00:02:12
  • ★★★ First reason: the models will keep improving, so today's tricks for spotting AI images will not work even a year from now. — 00:02:20
  • ★★★ The more important reason: we will never closely scrutinize each of the hundreds of images we see every day. — 00:02:30
  • ★★ We scrutinize only when a red flag goes up, e.g. it resembles earlier AI art, or distrust: Magic is now owned by Hasbro, which fans don't trust with the game. — 00:02:40
  • ★★ Often no flag goes up, as with the Puffer Pope image: up close the chain and glasses are wrong, but at a glance it is the Pope in a puffy coat, and most people move on. — 00:03:00
  • ★★★ Hank says the question of the modern day is not whether we can figure something out once we scrutinize it, but when and why we choose to scrutinize. — 00:03:29
  • ★★ When something fits our vibe we generally don't scrutinize it, and Hank says that is not just an AI image problem but an everything problem. — 00:03:39
  • ★★ The Magic Twitter account later confirmed Hank's suspicion: it had trusted a vendor who said the image was not AI-generated, but it was. — 00:03:45 · Twitter
  • ★★★ Hank is increasingly convinced that, though AI image generators are cool and fun, they are not necessarily going to be a good thing as they currently operate. — 00:03:55

00:04:10 — Missoula cold, P4A matching fund open, P4A news next week, sold-out Los Angeles shows

  • ★★ Hank has no time now to explain why, but would like to maybe get into it in a future video because it is fascinating and important. (hedged) — 00:04:10
  • ★ In the 24 hours since recording the first part, Missoula dropped from about 30 degrees to negative 11, hence his warm clothes. (playful) — 00:04:20 · Missoula, Montana
  • ★★★ Hank asks people with $500 or more to donate to join the Project for Awesome matching fund, open now and closing in about a month, via the description link. — 00:04:30 · Project for Awesome
  • ★★ Hank explains that during the P4A every donated dollar is matched by a dollar from the fund, built from people with substantial money to give. — 00:04:45 · Project for Awesome
  • ★★ Hank says he will share more P4A information next week (week of 15 January 2024), since things will be a little different this year (2024). — 00:04:58 · Project for Awesome
  • ★★ Hank will be in Los Angeles next week (week of 15 January 2024); all his shows have sold out and he can't wait to see those coming. — 00:05:05 · Los Angeles

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says people need both good signals for when to get suspicious and strong skills for checking what is real, and both are getting harder. — video description
  • ★★ The description says platforms and creators succeed by giving content you won't be suspicious of, while ever more tools fool people's BS detectors. — video description
  • ★★ In a channel comment Hank says AI image generation is extremely cool technologically, and many people will look for reasons to think it is not bad. — creator comment
  • ★★ In a comment Hank softens the video: he doesn't think we'll be unable to tell the difference in a year, only that the video's tools will be less useful. — creator comment
  • ★ In a comment Hank says AI-image detectors already exist but, like human BS filters, need constant updating and are not 100% accurate. — creator comment

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: artificial intelligence · Magic: The Gathering

Also: People: Pope Francis

Projects: Project for Awesome

Organizations: Hasbro · Twitter · YouTube

Concepts: media literacy

Places: Los Angeles · Missoula, Montana

Products: Adobe Photoshop

Only in the description or credits: misinformation

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