BOZEMAN — Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly difficult to spot. Many may remember the controversy surrounding the AI-generated Christmas Stroll poster in Bozeman. That incident got me thinking — are people at home concerned about AI in news outlets?
I asked a professional, “What is AI?”
“AI is sort of a collection of approaches to automate tasks — many are tasks that humans might do,” said Matthew Revelle, a computer science professor at Montana State University.
WATCH: Montana professor reveals how to spot AI-generated news and fake content
I first met Revelle in November, when he explained how to identify AI-generated content on social media. But since then, he said, detection has become even more challenging.
“It’s getting to the point where it can take a significant amount of effort in order to identify,” Revelle said.
And AI’s reach goes far beyond social media.
“Do you feel like AI is a concerning thing for the future of news?” I asked.
“Yeah, I think so,” Revelle replied.
When asked why, he explained, “People get their news from a variety of sources now. With more volume, it becomes harder to keep track of what’s going on — and even to verify whether something is real or not.”
To illustrate his point, I showed Revelle an account called Casper Planet, which posts gag news articles — some generated by AI.
One headline read, Wyoming winter tortoise – what we know so far.
“What immediately pops out as a red flag for you?” I asked.
“So, something you’ve never heard of before — the plausibility of the text, reading that more closely,” Revelle noted.
While that example seemed silly, some fabricated articles can sound more believable.
I read him another: Abandoned Wyoming prairie structure hid massive Cold War military base.
“If there’s an explanation that they’re using — at least at first glance, it seems like it could be plausible? Yeah, it could take more time to dive into it,” Revelle said.
Revelle suggested verifying whether a story is legitimate by checking if it’s being reported by multiple trusted outlets.
A quick search for both “Wyoming winter tortoise” and “hidden Cold War military bases” revealed that the articles were fake.
AI isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, Revelle said. His final advice?
“It’s more of an art than a science. It takes some time to actually get a sense of whether or not it’s generated. At this point, it’s almost — take it with a grain of salt.”
For more tips on how to spot AI on social media, check out this story: https://www.kbzk.com/ai-or-not-controversy-swirls-around-christmas-stroll-poster-and-use-of-artificial-intelligence