By Jack Cumming

Suddenly, we have been experiencing an explosion of plausible video material that seems real but turns out to be no more than a creation of artificial intelligence. One credibility test is whether the material meets standards of academic integrity or favors a particular interest group or point of view.

Fake Testimonials

A recent YouTube video at first seemed real to me. It was a testimonial about how good lawyering can avoid institutionalization. Testimonials can be the most powerful of marketing tools. This one was selling aging at home with an estate lawyer’s shield. It was surprisingly convincing.

Gradually, though, I realized that it was almost too real. Moreover, it featured a talking head … an 89-year-old … talking about moving to a care setting at the impetus of his children. As I listened, I thought, why would an 89-year-old be likely on his own to make a video like this? An estate lawyer’s self-perception slowly became evident.

Staying Home

The video opens with a clever quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, “A house is made of walls and beams; a home is built of love and dreams.” That’s powerful, and it instantly resonated with me. The home that holds those memories for me is not a single-family dwelling. It’s Apartment 4J at 380 Riverside Drive in New York City. I loved the community of neighbors that a New York City cooperative apartment can be. It’s what our apartment building was.

The video began to seem a bit too slick to be just the musings of an 89-year-old, whose children came every week to him for Sunday dinner. I’m 89 myself, and that just didn’t seem credible. Perhaps I’m jealous.

Skepticism

Once I became skeptical, I began to look for the source. The video itself did not reveal that it was AI generated. I went to the channel Last Chance Is Today, of which the video was part. There was still no immediately evident information of AI authorship or creation. It was only after I clicked on “More” and then on “About” that I found the disclaimer:

“All characters and voices in our videos are AI-generated for storytelling purposes. Stories are inspired by real experiences, but any resemblance to real persons is coincidental. This content is for educational and reflective purposes only and is not professional advice. Please consult a qualified professional for personal guidance.”

Misleading?

The video is not objective analysis, nor is it a firsthand testimonial by an individual. This is deception with a veiled disclosure to try to avoid any legal challenge. Although the video praises an estate attorney named Linda Chen, the person who scripted the AI is not revealed. The denouement, though, is a very conventional estate plan that seems particularly suited to California. A search for Linda Chen also came up empty.

Who might be behind the channel, Last Chance Is Today? I wasn’t able to find that. It remains a mystery. Perhaps it’s a well-intended person who thinks that the AI character’s story is a universal story. Who knows? The takeaway is that we need to be constantly wary that what we encounter may not have the integrity we expect.

In the right hands, and with the right sensitivity to full disclosure, these emerging AI tools can be very powerful. They also have the potential to mislead. Often, as may be the case in this instance, there may be a well-intentioned person seeking to seem more authoritative than would be the case if they stayed with their own persona. In the meantime, enjoy the nice elderly man depicted in the video. Just take what he says with a grain of doubt.