Blogger Kev Quirk shares an email he got from his son’s school:
In hard-copy or online school publications which are widely available, we will no longer use images in which our students can easily be identified.
To allow us to continue to give a visual flavour of school life, we may use AI-generated illustrative images featuring entirely fictional people. These images will not depict real students and are intended only to represent the type of activities, subjects and experiences available at
[school name].
On the one hand, this seems like a good idea, protecting the privacy of the students in an age when anyone can do anything with any photo.
On the other hand, it’s an example of a problem that’s been around for at least ten years and is just going to get worse. We’ve told ourselves and our kids that “you can’t trust the internet” and “online is not real life.” The rise of generative AI underscores the truth of those statements.
But also note that the school will be using these fake images in “hard-copy” publications as well. Those mid-century media theorists that warned us about the dangers of photography, mechanical reproduction, and all the rest were right. Maybe AI will finally teach us the lesson.
