The ad shows Maine Gov. Janet Mills giving little kids syringes with hormones. They couldn’t use real video because that never happened.
Republicans are attacking Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) – who is running for the U.S. Senate – with a fake artificial intelligence (AI)-generated video of her giving a boy “a no-parent-permission-required estrogen kit.”
Mills has been a strong supporter of transgender rights this past year, refusing to bow to pressure from the president to ban trans kids from participating in school sports.
But instead of just criticizing her for her actual record of support for trans people, Republicans have decided to use deepfake videos.
So there is a memory error called “source monitoring error”. Basically what happens is we remember information, but not the source.
When this happens we can’t evaluate the legitimacy of the information.
This happens to all of us , all the time. It’s a very common memory error.
As you can imagine, the concern is, someone intentionally putting out false information can still be highly effective. And not just on gullible stupid people.
But effective on regular people with critical thinking skills. Because often we will forget the source. And accept the information.
What also happens is when we don’t have a source, instead of stopping and questioning if the information we have is valid, we instead just accept it as “common knowledge”.
It’s a little tricky how that works. But think of all the knowledge you have about the world. Like. How clothes are made. Or how to change a light bulb.
Do you have a specific source memory for these? Probably not.
But when you think about changing out a light bulb, do you question your belief in how it’s done because you can’t remember where/when you learned how to do it?
No. Probably never.
So you might think , “I would notice if I had a belief and no source”. But you actually wouldn’t notice.
There are different kinds of memory. And general knowledge is just accumulated and is not necessarily verified for accuracy. And it definitely isn’t verified every time you rely on it. You have to make a conscious effort to question your own knowledge and beliefs to challenge them.
It’s not that easy to do. And most people won’t be doing that.
The other comment about lawyers saying shit in court rooms that is dismissed is also exactly this.
By the end, the judge/jury won’t actually critically evaluate that information. It will be used to weigh in on the decision.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source-monitoring_error https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Source_amnesia&wprov=rarw1