TAMPA, Fla. — Artificial intelligence is a major topic of discussion, and it is threatening to change almost every industry in the nation. Just this week, a fake photo of an explosion at the Pentagon, which used this technology, caused panic and the stock market to decline.
But research into AI and its effects on society are being studied in the Tampa Bay area.
The University of South Florida has an institute for artificial intelligence. Professors there are researching AI and working with local leaders in healthcare, finance, biology, and transportation. Students can also get a certificate in AI.
Larry Hall is the co-director of the institute for artificial intelligence at USF. He tells ABC Action News that we all have a responsibility to verify what we see online.
“We all need to have skepticism about anything we see on social media. So, if sounds like something you want to believe, make sure it is true before you decide to send it on,” explained Larry Hall.
There is also a company called Truepic that’s working to get ahead of AI. They are helping all of us spot artificially created content and real images that have been changed. Within two years, they hope to have this technology flag AI-generated content on everyone’s social media feeds.
“Our entire information ecosystem is changing right in front of us, and we believe it is a human right for consumers to be able to look at a piece of digital media and know if it was created by a human or a computer and ultimately know whether to trust it or not,” said Jeffrey McGregor from Truepic.
We here at ABC Action News want to make you aware of our policies against using artificial intelligence in our news-gathering process. We don’t use AI to write our stories and we closely analyze photos and videos before they go on air.
