Meta announces "AI-generated" labels to avoid a new Cambridge Analytica

Meta, the world’s largest social media conglomerate, announced new policies on AI-generated content for its platforms. Meta controls Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads, and is one of the highest-valued companies in the world.

The new policies will put a label on AI-generated pictures and audio-visual content, embedding an invisible watermark in the metadata. Images generated with the Meta AI software will include a “Generated with AI” watermark.

Artificial intelligence has been on everyone’s lips in Silicon Valley for almost two years. When OpenAI announced its breakthrough software ChatGPT, the world entered into a completely different era.

However, not all that shines is gold. Artificially generated images started several debates on the legality, ethics, and implications of AI. Software like Midjourney (and its many alternatives) have been accused of stealing artists’ work to “feed” its algorithm, without rightfully crediting them.

In Summer 2023, Hollywood writers and actors went on strike protesting, among other issues, the threat posed by artificial intelligence. Eventually, actors and screenwriters received several concessions from film producers on the future use of their intellectual properties to train AI.

Now, Meta is the first major tech company to implement an AI-recognition tool. The company will partner with AI developers like Microsoft, Adobe, OpenAI, and others to achieve industry standards.

AI and politics

One of the main reasons Meta is coming up with this tool now is the upcoming US elections. American voters will be called to ballots for national elections in November, in what is widely considered the most important political event of the year.

Back in 2016, when Republican candidate Donald Trump surprisingly won the elections, Facebook played a key role in the electoral campaign. The social network heavily helped Trump’s campaign with the misuse of personal data on a national level and influence from Russia-affiliated hackers. This was later revealed in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which shook the social network to its foundations.

Now, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to use Facebook to maintain a fair and equal electoral campaign. Especially in a neck-to-neck election between Donald Trump and incumbent President Joe Biden.

Since 2016, artificial intelligence developed at a stunning pace. Fake pictures, artificially created audio files, made-up video evidence… are all readily available on the internet to anyone with AI knowledge.

To avoid a new Cambridge Analytica scandal, not to mention another slain to American democracy, Meta is now taking measures to prevent misuse of AI for political reasons.