We'll never be free from AI paranoia, so as long as the burden of detective work keeps falling to the masses

SoftwareAIWe’ll never be free from AI paranoia, so as long as the burden of detective work keeps falling to the massesWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: OpenAI / Sora)

An image generated by Open AI�s new Sora model of a woman wearing sunglasses in a vibrant cityscape.

Nowadays, it’s less easy to tell whether genuine effort’s been put into something. Art that seems textured and detailed falls apart upon closer inspection—and even when you find a genuinely great piece of work, you’ve gotta spend a few minutes staring at it, first. Like checking a mattress for bedbugs in a sketchy hotel.

AI has turned us all into private investigators. If you care about not getting suckered, you have to be sceptical and critical, and even when you avoid being fooled, it was only because you were flinching at shadows. I wrote about this a littlelast year, though that was through the lens of analysing games. Still, that feeling of “an internet flooded with algorithmic doppelgangers” is wearing me down something fierce.

The internet was already tough to take at face value. Rumour mills have always had their hooks dug into everything. But I feel myself growing a thick shell of scepticism that muffles everything I see, listen to, or read—a barrier to entry in my brain that reads: ‘does this look AI-generated?’

AI causes problems for just about everybody

An image of previously-retracted artwork from D&D’s Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants.

In order to keep the internet usable—and there’s no guarantee that we’ll reach that point before the grey goo tanks it all anyway—a lot of work needs to be done. Proponents of AI will often tell you that it’ll speed up the process, unlock creativity, ‘democratise art’, and so on. I certainly do think there are ways in which this tech can be used to help people. As it stands, though, AI is creating more problems than solutions—even for the people who you’d think would stand to gain.

Take AI-generated art, for example. Broadly speaking it’s unpopular. Sure, people like to churn out meme images and busty anime girls, but most audiences feel like they’ve been short-changed when a company dumps something computer-generated in front of them. While we aren’t quite at the level ofbullying NFTs reached, it still leaves folks sour in the mouth.

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

(Image credit: Wizards of the Coast)

Magic: The Gathering promotional image - five cards in a retro-Steampunk setting

Fan uproar caused Wizards to change tack and issue corrections—all because internal quality checks clearly weren’t designed to stop the slop from slipping through the cracks. In both cases, spotting the AI generation wasn’t hard—uneasy anatomy, melting pressure metres, nonsensical light bulbs. But it’s easy to say that in hindsight, after hundreds of discerning eyes have scanned every inch and drawn big red circles around the offending imagery.

I get the feeling whoever gave the go-ahead just didn’t have the skills or the time to work through it with a fine comb. Wizards of the Coast needs to check for more than plagiarism—it needs to check for artistic integrity. It needs a discerning eye to look at the anatomy, construction, and composition of a piece. In other words, it might need to paytwoartists, now—one to draw the thing, and another to make sure the first one didn’t cheat.

Which begs the question: is AI actually making things less costly for the moneybags in the long run? Assuming we don’t all just become numb to it someday, having your AI art discovered is a financial risk paid in reputation and goodwill.

If you want to avoid that cost, you need to spend a loat of effort either covering it up—or hiring people to filter it out with their expertise. At which point, why not just actually pay one artist a little extra to make the damn thing? Still, I thought, at least AI is limited to fairly obvious bad art right now. ThenOpen AI’s new Sora text-to-video modelhappened.

I had to rewrite half of this article because of something that happened overnight

(Image credit: OpenAI)

A still from an AI generated video of a woman in Tokyo at night.

I don’t usually pull back the curtain like this, but I feel it’s warranted here since it’s a great example of how this tech can blindside us. The first draft of this article only talked about 2D AI art and the malaise of having to zoom in on eyes and hands. I went to sleep, woke up with a mind to edit it, and then saw this:

This AI-generated parade clip is where we’re at after, what, a few years of development? While Sora’s generations are typically dreamlike, with plenty of surreal, acid-trip inconsistencies, assuming it’ll stay that way for long feels like jumping into a pot of water and shouting ‘boil me up, Scotty’.

Again, there are uses for AI tech. But this doubt-exhaustion will only get worse unless something is actually done—a major election in the United States is just around a dreaded corner, and if this technology continues to enjoy an unregulated gold-rush era of tech bro fantasies, we’re all going to suffer for it.

But don’t worry!Open AI’s websitehas a section on safety, which reads: “We are working with red teamers — domain experts in areas like misinformation, hateful content, and bias — who will be adversarially testing the model.” Which is sort of like reassuring everybody that you’re consulting with radiation poisoning experts after developing the nuclear bomb.

Pandora’s box is open, sure—but that doesn’t mean we all have to lie down and let its evils steamroll us out into a nice flat pancake. Just because we have the ability to do something,doesn’t mean its use is inevitable. As my fellow PC Gamer writer Joshua Wolens rightfully pointed out last year, there’s all sorts of social action that can be taken on a personal level—and on a governmental one, we put safety checks in place all the time.

(Image credit: OpenAI)

Regulations exist. They’re why our drinking water is (typically) safe, why our food is (typically) edible. Technology isn’t used just because it’s there—for instance, we’ve had the ability to wipe out most/all life on planet earth since 1945. Sure, things got scary there for a while, but we’ve still managed to avoid atomising ourselves for two-thirds of a century. Give the human race a little credit.

If anything, AI is acting like a canary in a coalmine for a cultural problem we’ve had for a while, a problem that used to only cause issues for creatives. It’s easy to ignore where your processed food came from if it tastes fine—it’s harder to do that when you chip your teeth on the rocks they started sneaking in.

Our pre-AI state of affairs wasn’t acceptable, but we’re fast pushing the needle from ‘this sucks and it shouldn’t be this way’ to ‘everybody loses’. Artists, writers, and actors are getting screwed over just as thoroughly as before—moreso, with even poorly-paid work vanishing before their eyes. Right now, companies stand to gain the most—but even then, plenty are hitting roadblocks that’ll hurt the bottom line.

Sora only really promises to improve things for dodgy advertisers who want to make stuff on the cheap—that’s its major pro. The cons far outweigh that. ‘Yes, the internet may be destroyed. But for a beautiful moment in time we created a lot of value for corporations?’ We can do better, surely.

Until that point, though, we all get to enjoy an internet that’s gradually getting worse in a hundred little ways. Soon, none of us will get to watch a video without squinting to catch shapeshifting chairs, multiplying cat paws, or shifting geography—the paranoia will continue until something explodes.

More about aiNvidia’s impressive AI-based computer tuneup tool G-Assist launches next month but the best bit is missingLogitech has announced an ‘intelligent streaming assistant’ in Streamlabs to tell you when your live stream sucksLatestAssassin’s Creed Shadows takes a run at improving parkour, as Ubisoft strives to make the system less ‘like a gas pedal’See more latest►

More about ai

Nvidia’s impressive AI-based computer tuneup tool G-Assist launches next month but the best bit is missingLogitech has announced an ‘intelligent streaming assistant’ in Streamlabs to tell you when your live stream sucks

Nvidia’s AI assistant named Project G-Assist

Nvidia’s impressive AI-based computer tuneup tool G-Assist launches next month but the best bit is missing

A young Asian woman opening visual aids to give her audience a better understanding while holding a podcast session.

Logitech has announced an ‘intelligent streaming assistant’ in Streamlabs to tell you when your live stream sucks

LatestAssassin’s Creed Shadows takes a run at improving parkour, as Ubisoft strives to make the system less ‘like a gas pedal’See more latest►

Latest

Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes a run at improving parkour, as Ubisoft strives to make the system less ‘like a gas pedal’

Image for Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes a run at improving parkour, as Ubisoft strives to make the system less ‘like a gas pedal’

Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes a run at improving parkour, as Ubisoft strives to make the system less ‘like a gas pedal’

See more latest►

Most Popular

The Witcher 3’s now 2-year-old bonus quest is our first taste of the ‘vibe’ CD Projekt is going for in The Witcher 4

2024 was the year updates for old games beat out all the new ones for me

Train like you game with this adventure-inspired workout

‘It’s simply impossible to make a difficulty level that’s just right for all players’: How Final Fantasy 14’s lead battle designer has been playing a precarious balancing game for Dawntrail’s dungeons and raids

Please join me in getting super excited for all the cool looking survival games coming in 2025 (and beyond)

Competitive shooters are at a crucial crossroads in 2025: ‘sweaty’ teamplay vs. casual fun

Call of Duty’s $28 Squid Game skins are the perfect crossover for our capitalist dystopia, and Activision knows exactly what it’s doing

These are the 14 biggest upcoming RPGs of 2025—get ready for another amazing year for the genre

Five new Steam games you probably missed (January 6, 2025)

I’ve seen enough: No more forcing singleplayer studios to make mediocre live service games

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

A bunch of the best Steam Deck accessories on a blue background.

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits

Thank Goodness You’re Here review

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits

Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits

2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback

Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback

3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

4Ikea Utespelare desk review

Ikea Utespelare desk review

5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

AI causes problems for just about everybody#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

I had to rewrite half of this article because of something that happened overnight#

AI causes problems for just about everybody

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

I had to rewrite half of this article because of something that happened overnight