It’s all fun and games until the cops get called…
I would imagine that most people who get into law enforcement imagine themselves saving the day and locking up criminals, Dirty Harry style.
Unfortunately, these days, thanks to the Internet, they instead have to remind people that doing things like using artificial intelligence to pretend a homeless guy broke into your house is not a good idea.
AI technology is here to stay, and in a lot of ways, it makes our lives a lot easier, and that’s a good thing.
However, it can also be used to make all kinds of goofy images and videos and that’s fun as hell.
One of the biggest AI trends out there at the moment involves taking a photo and then using AI to insert a homeless fella who looks like he came straight out of central casting. Then, you take that photo and send it to an unsuspecting parent or significant other, and let the laughs begin.
That really is hilarious, and most of the time, completely harmless.
However, you’ve got to remember that some people on the receiving end of this prank may not be able to discern what is and isn’t AI. I mean, some would probably mistake Grand Theft Auto V gameplay for the news. You can understand why they might freak out and call the police because they think some drifter is crashing on their couch.
The City of Salem (Massachusetts) Police Department even hopped on social media to remind people that this is a trend — like so many others on social media; must I bring up when people were eating Tide Pods — is dumb.
“Besides being in bad taste, there are many reasons why this prank is, to put it bluntly, stupid and potentially dangerous,” they wrote. “This prank dehumanizes the homeless, causes the distressed recipient to panic and wastes police resources. Police officers who are called upon to respond do not know this is a prank and treat the call as an actual burglary in progress thus creating a potentially dangerous situation.”
It’s a good reminder that even though something like this seems pretty harmless and funny, it can cause a serious headache for the brave men and women in blue.
Read the full article here
