Pink Panther and other agents of chaos
This is fine.
Just sit back and relax. Image by Cybernews/Wiki Commons
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- AI-generated images and videos from French riots spread online, including fake Pink Panther protest scenes and staged attacks.
- AI companies face growing scrutiny as their tools are used for scams, deception, and disruptive automated actions.
- Europe fears it is falling behind the United States and China in artificial intelligence and critical communications systems.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
AI is making things up and Europe is worried about being left behind. But at least the French know how to enjoy a drink amid the chaos.
A quintessentially French scene emerged from the chaos and shock of last weekend’s riots in France, which saw violent clashes, looting, and businesses reduced to rubble.
A video captured a couple calmly enjoying their drinks on a café terrace while the streets around them burned.
It struck a nerve. This is how the world feels right now to many. Big things are happening, and people feel helpless. So we might as well enjoy the little things.
Unfortunately, AI-generated images and videos depicting scenes from the French protests have also circulated online, providing ammunition to opportunists across the political spectrum.
That Pink Panther revolutionary? Fake. An elderly couple being robbed and stripped naked in the middle of the street? Also fake.
Social media amplified this fake content and also gave looters a platform to show off stolen goods they tried to sell on online marketplaces like Vinted (the company told Cybernews it was actively removing such listings).
France has warned 6 social media platforms, including Meta and TikTok, over riot content, as some politicians called for temporary social media blackouts to diffuse tensions.
AI delusion?
Stricter regulations and lawsuits have pushed social media platforms to take greater responsibility for how their tools are used to spread disinformation and run influence campaigns.
AI labs, meanwhile, still seem content to play the role of mere observers as their agents go on hacking sprees, are used to deceive and scam people, disregard our best interests, and even delete an entire Swedish television show.
Anthropic even proposed in a draft bill obtained by Politico that the government should only intervene and block an AI model if it poses “a foreseeable, imminent risk” of killing or seriously injuring more than 50 people or causing more than $1 billion in damages.
The proposal betrays serious moral dilemmas we may have to face as AI becomes more capable. It’s also important not to get lost in what some tech leaders call a “social delusion” surrounding AI.
Apparently, some AI researchers are so convinced of the technology’s success that they’re taking up smoking, believing it will cure cancer or at least lead them to better networking opportunities.
Rude awakening
As the Americans – and the Chinese – leap forward, Europe risks falling behind to a point where it’s not even in the race anymore, warns Arthur Mensch, founder and chief executive of Paris-based Mistral AI.
America’s mercurial president has forced Europe into a reckoning, and the continent appears to have finally realized that its security cannot depend on US election cycles. Other US allies have drawn similar conclusions.
Canada is developing its own Starlink alternative, as is Europe. Both could eventually be linked by undersea cables that bypass the US.
The Starlink slowdown in Ukraine, where the service is a critical communications system, and the subsequent blame game lay bare the dangers of relying on a single provider or country.
