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The deeper the fake, the more dangerous: The disinformation potential of text-to-image generation

The internet you know is already filled with disinformation that spreads like a digital wildfire. Artificial intelligence (AI) and synthetic content risk making things worse. If we don’t understand the problem and act upon it, the internet of the future will become a darker place.

Consider this: A hostile actor creates a false headline, builds a story around it, and uses AI to design an image that perfectly supports the erroneous narrative. Unsuspecting readers, affirmed by the seamless combination of text and imagery, share the manipulated information far and wide.  

It’s no dystopian scenario – it may soon become plausible with advancements in text-to-image generation. Research in this domain is rapidly evolving past current technological limitations to allow for the manufacturing of high-quality, photorealistic images used to produce fake evidence.  

Democracy Reporting International’s (DRI) new report dives deeper into the application of text-to-image generation. We go beyond existing media manipulation to focus on fully synthetic, AI-powered content – evaluating in the process global threat scenarios, emerging models, the credibility of news and possible solutions.  


Join us on 29 September 2022 at 15:00 via Zoom for an overview of the new report and an expert panel debate on how worried we should be about advancements in text-to-image generation, featuring:  

  • Claire Leibowicz, Head of AI & Media Integrity, Partnership on AI
  • Shirin Anlen, Researcher and Media Technologist, WITNESS
  • Andy Parsons, Senior Director at Adobe’s Content Authenticity Initiative
  • Jan Nicola Beyer, Research Coordinator, Democracy Reporting International 
  • Lena-Maria Böswald, Digital Democracy Programme Officer, DRI (moderator) 
  • Beatriz Almeida Saab, Digital Democracy Research Associate, DRI (presentation)

Watch the recording


You can learn more about the report that DRI will present in the webinar here and download a PDF version here.

And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter to receive the latest work and other updates from DRI’s Digital Democracy team! Pick the 'Digital Democracy' topic when you sign in. 

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