Human Verification Tokens
How to Validate Humanity in the Era of AI Content
In technology, there’s a concept known as tokens. Essentially, a token is a unique identifier assigned to an app or website that validates the identity of the resources involved to enable safe communication. In simpler terms, a token is an ID that verifies the identity of users, ensuring they are who they claim to be.
In this rapidly advancing era of artificial intelligence, there is a similar, growing need to validate content and communication between parties to ensure authenticity and identity.
Election Deception
Recently, in the news, a story went around about an AI robo-caller impersonating President Biden and encouraging voters to stay home and not vote in the New Hampshire primaries. The intent of the deception was to affect election results by influencing the quantity and type of voter that participated in the primary elections. Its convincing nature prompted the FCC to enact new regulations against artificially created voice calls.
We’ve already started to see the power of AI video and and its increasingly convincing nature. Open AI just released their video model Sora demonstrating impressive results, and other apps like HeyGen and D-ID are becoming incredibly effective at realistically mimicking human-like avatars.
Voice emulation technologies like Eleven Labs have already reached a level that is indecipherable to the average ear.
We’re still months away from the US election and AI continues to evolve exponentially. One can see how much these new capabilities, used negatively, could affect the results and sentiment around an already divided Western culture.
As controversial as the last two US elections have been, add in incendiary AI deception to the next and political unrest and societal imbalance are almost certainly to reach new levels.
AI Media Takeover
The aforementioned OpenAI Soma, RunwayML, HeyGen and a bunch of other video technology companies have demonstrated impressive advancements in the last eighteen months. They’ve demonstrated the ability to create life-like human imagery with simple text prompts, images, and reference videos.
HeyGen’s avatar creation technology is one in particular that enables a user to upload their likeness with a handful of video clips and recordings and then generate an avatar of themselves that appears mostly indecipherable from a real phone recording posted to social media.
StableAudio, Google Lyria, and a handful of other music generation companies are able to create more and more impressive music directly from the machine that, in certain genres, is already rivaling the output of human producers.
ChatGPT and all the other LLMs that keep popping up in its wake are getting better and better at writing inspiring, human-like stories and prose.
All these advancements promise to create exciting new experiences and opportunities that will enhance our society and our collective interactions within it.
The more functional aspects of generative AI will allow for interactivity and immersive experience in media to be completely individual and unique.
As always, I maintain that AI will serve as a great tool for those with a vision and the willingness to employ new techniques, but as our society and economy has proven time time again, there will be exploitation.
And certainly there will be an over-saturation of uninspired expression made possible by the lowered barrier of entry to creativity made possible by AI.
The Human Art Connection
There is one major element that will always be absent from art and content solely created with AI:
Humanity.
We can acknowledge that AI will be able to make great commercial background music and interactive, adaptive gaming music. Corporate training videos will be created in droves without any human interaction.
But the best of art, the kind that elicits the deepest and most timely connections, comes from the soul of humanity.
Recall your favorite musical artists and favorite actors from movies, or take a look at some of the success stories of today.
A great example from music is Taylor Swift, whose Eras Tour is smashing records never before even considered by the music industry.
Said with the kindest of critique, I would argue that the reason Taylor’s brand is so massive is not due to the brilliance of her actual music, which, perhaps AI at some point could replicate, it is due to her story. Because of her humanity.
Especially in the demographics that she inspires, the stories that she tells mean so much to the fans that hear them as they relate and resonate with the humanity behind them.
To feel heard and seen through shared stories by someone you admire who has gone through the same thing, and felt the same way, is incredibly comforting and validating.
That sentiment is at the core of art and its power over humans. Would they feel the same way if they knew that she wasn’t a human. If she wasn’t made of flesh and blood and expansive emotion as they are?
I argue strongly that they would not.
In my growing love affair with music when I was younger, I resonated so deeply with the sentiment of the artists writing the lyrics and music.
Musicians and lyricists like Chris Cornell, Seal, and Maynard James Keenan (three of my favorite singers, diverse I know, but all brilliant), pouring out their soul and struggle from the dark side of finding identity in this sometimes droll and vapid world.
As an angry youth, I found so much power and encouragement knowing that I wasn’t alone. Knowing that other people whom I admired, were going through the same struggles while fighting to find their way.
Had I found out they weren’t human, I would not only have felt great betrayal and disappointment, I would have been outraged. It would not have had the same effect, and I truly believe it would never have resonated so deeply in the first place, because humans and our complex souls and emotions are constantly evolving with society and our own archetypal identities. And that’s not something easily replicated by pattern analysis.
Human Verification Tokens
I truly believe that these two concepts will forever hold true as the future unfolds:
AI will continue to evolve and become increasingly impressive in what it is able to create
Humans will always and forever resonate most deeply with art and connection from other humans
As AI technology continues to exponentially grow and blow our minds with its capabilities, there will be a growing need and desire to know where the source of media and content is coming from.
A way to know whether it originated from the heart and mind of a living human, or whether it was generated from the patterns of 1 trillion instances of history by an algorithm.
As the US election grows near, I think this concept will become incredibly apparent as political figures deliver messages to the masses that will affect the decisions of our political future.
To maintain trust and confidence, we will need systems that ensure the validity of the people delivering these messages.
Within the realm of art, we will want to know if a human is who were resonating with or whether it’s just an idea manifested from a corporation designed to extract profit from our aching human souls.
Humans (myself very much included) do not take kindly to deception.
And the world, already rife with it, will only become more challenging in this arena.
Returning to the token analogy in the opening of this entry, I believe we will soon have something like human verified tokens that identifies our communication and content as uniquely our own.
Newer technologies like the blockchain can ensure a decentralized, unique identity, devoid of government, or big tech corruption, that could help serve this purpose.
Regardless of the actual execution, the ability to confidently know who is behind the messages that move our souls is becoming imperative.
A Future Unfolding
I’m a big proponent of technology, and I am extremely excited about what the near future will bring.
Additionally, I’m a huge fan and a dedicated evangelist of art and believe that our humanity is its essence.
I also believe that our corporate and political landscapes have devolved into dangerous levels of deception and personal greed even before powerful technology came along to further the possibility of exploitation.
As we embrace new capabilities and experiences, maintaining a focus on balance and authenticity will be crucial.
New technologies require new systems to maintain balance, and we are entering an era where authenticity is essential to guard against deception.
Whether it’s human verification tokens or some other technology, we want and need to know who or what it is we are connecting with.
~ Michael
Exciting Tech of The Week
OpenAI Sora
Mentioned earlier in the article, this past week OpenAI released a new video model called Sora and the results are mind blowing. Their demo page in the link above can best show the level of realism that AI is capable of creating with video. Check out the demos and take a look for yourself.
We are definitely entering a new era of possibility and advancements keep coming.
The new model is not yet released to the public but will most likely be available in the coming months.
My Creative Updates
I continue to decompress from the intense client project that I had in January and am working balance back into my routine. It feels good. I’m continuing work on the Niche Creator app as well as working on some cool content ideas with Jake there.
Our Creative Archetype quiz has been doing well, if you haven’t taken it yet, you can check it out here:
https://nichecreator.ai/creative-archetype-quiz
I’m slowing finding my way back to working on a little music, which has felt amazing. I did a quick vocal track in the style of kind of a zombie horror score with my TikTok friend Gabriel which I hope to share in near future. And I’ve been working on an acoustic set of new originals and covers that I hope to play out with one day this year. Or maybe even online at some point 😃
It reminds me how important it is to maintain the balance of keeping time and space for the people and activities that resonate deeply within us. I am determined not to forget that.
It is shaping to be a fascinating year, indeed. There will definitely be geopolitical concerns and the unveiling of new forms of manipulation. At the same time, I anticipate the yet to be seen progress in creative endeavors, new perspectives into understanding of our existence, and the evolution of technology. Let's move ahead equipped with both critical thinking and a sense of wonder.