So what\u2019s the deal? How did we get here, and should we worry? Turns out this timeline spamming of absurdist imagery isn\u2019t entirely harmless \u2013 but you can get the jump on it with some genuine human <\/em>intelligence, and a hand from Spokeo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to a 2024 study from Sta<\/a>n<\/a>ford<\/a>, of 120 Facebook spam and scam pages investigated, each page had posted a minimum of 50 AI-generated images, and in late 2023, an AI-generated pic was one of FB\u2019s most-viewed pieces of content, period.\u00a0 These Facebook AI images can be anything, but you\u2019ll quickly spot a few favorite subjects, including religious and patriotic content, hypersexualized pictures of women, and subjects meant to garner sympathy, like starving children or wounded veterans.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n None of these topics are accidental. They\u2019re all extremely effective at generating engagement, which is often the primary purpose of Facebook AI posts (though AI-generated Facebook bots are also a thing, which we\u2019ll get to in a bit). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s backpedal just a bit and define what we mean when we say \u201cAI-generated,\u201d especially when referring to the most common types of Facebook AI posts.\u00a0 Artificial intelligence, as a concept, has been around since the 1950s<\/a>, simply referring to computer systems that perform tasks with human-like intelligence.\u00a0 The ghosts that chase you in Pac-Man<\/em> are a simple artificial intelligence.\u00a0 The denizens of the latest Grand Theft Auto<\/em> and Siri on your iPhone are forms of AI, too.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Facebook AI epidemic \u2013 like the vast majority of AI-related headlines you\u2019ve seen these past few years \u2013 is all about a newer type of artificial intelligence known as generative AI (or genAI). Also known as deep learning models or machine learning models, genAI essentially vacuums up huge volumes of existing data and \u201clearns\u201d from that data to output content (based on a pre-programmed algorithm) when prompted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So a large language model like ChatGPT hoovers up countless existing digital texts, from classic literature to Wikipedia to goofy Reddit threads, and then uses a complex algorithm to generate answers to the questions you ask it, based on all that raw material. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Likewise, the image generators<\/a> used to create the pics you see in Facebook AI posts have been fed \u2013 a process called \u201cscraping\u201d or being \u201ctrained on\u201d \u2013 immense amounts of digital imagery.\u00a0 They pull from the elements of that existing imagery to generate prompted images, like \u201chomeless veteran,\u201d \u201cJoe Biden skateboarding,\u201d or \u201csexy Scarlett Johansson.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Facebook\u2019s AI problem is multi-pronged.\u00a0 While AI-generated posts and AI-generated profiles are associated with different dangers and deployed for somewhat different reasons \u2013 typically, the former to generate clicks and the latter to more directly phish people<\/a>, with both having adjacency to scams \u2013 they share plenty of common red flags.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n AI-generated Facebook content is meant to engage, whether it\u2019s simply intended to generate clicks for a page or lure you into a scam.\u00a0 And when Facebook AI posts generate engagement in the form of likes, shares, and comments, Facebook\u2019s algorithm<\/a> considers that positive feedback and pushes AI content into more and more feeds, making Facebook AI a cyclical issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Content created by genAI that presents itself as genuine falls somewhere on the spectrum of disinformation. While an AI-generated image of an \u201cartist\u201d with a wildly impressive wood or ice sculpture (another popular category of Facebook AI posts) seems harmless enough, it\u2019s simply not depicting a reality that exists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n More sinister is the world of deep fakes, which are AI-created images and videos of real people, depicting them in scenarios that just plain never happened.\u00a0 A report from Freedom House<\/a> warns that \u201cgenerative artificial intelligence threatens to supercharge online disinformation,\u201d whether that\u2019s on a personal level (think blackmail) or on a geopolitical level, \u201cto sow doubt, smear opponents, or influence public debate.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n This becomes a particular problem as Facebook\u2019s audience skews older than other popular social networks, and less savvy at identifying what is AI-generated and what is not.\u00a0 After all, many of these Facebook AI posts pass muster at first glance, until you look closely and notice the hyper-smooth skin or the seven fingers on one hand.\u00a0 Just as the elderly are the most common target of traditional internet scams<\/a>, they\u2019re more susceptible to believing that an AI-generated Facebook post is the real deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So here\u2019s the thing. Remember when we said that generative AI is trained on, or scrapes from, vast amounts of existing content \u2013 including text, visual art, photos, music, voices, videos, and so on \u2013 to generate its output? An artist\u2019s work shared online, clips of a professional voice actor\u2019s performance, a Reddit or forum post, text from a New York Times<\/em> article, files stored on the cloud, or even personal photos shared on social media \u2013 all of this and much, much more has already been scraped by generative AI models. This type of AI does not produce wholly original content; it simply spits out amalgamations of existing content created by humans based on a prompt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While courts try their first intellectual property cases regarding artificial intelligence and what content counts as \u201cfair use,\u201d at the time of writing, there are currently no comprehensive federal regulations<\/a> that restrict AI\u2019s development or usage.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s another issue with that scraping and outputting process. Generative AI relies on massive, off-site data centers. And that requires a massive amount of energy, which in turn contributes to climate change in an alarming way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to <\/em>Nature<\/em><\/a>, ChatGPT alone consumes the energy of about 33,000 homes, while a web search powered by genAI uses up to five times the energy of a traditional web search.\u00a0 Those data clusters need water to cool their processors, too; a single genAI data center in a mid-sized city can use up to 6% of that district\u2019s water supply.\u00a0 Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University<\/a> estimate that a single AI-generated image, like those shared en masse on Facebook, uses about as much energy as fully charging your smartphone.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n While many Facebook AI posts are simple engagement bait (you\u2019ll see all kinds of common keywords based on trends, like \u201ccabin crew,\u201d celeb name drops, \u201clike for good luck,\u201d \u201cshare to wish me a happy birthday,\u201d or \u201cwhy doesn\u2019t this type of post ever trend?\u201d), they sometimes also include links to shady e-commerce sites, phishing links out to mine your private personal info, or even malware that can directly infect your computer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And here\u2019s where Facebook AI profiles and Facebook bots come into play, too.\u00a0 Bad actors are using AI-generated content, such as AI-made profile pics, to create completely phony Facebook profiles.\u00a0 According to Facebook parent company Meta, they\u2019ve seen a \u201crapid rise\u201d in the practice, telling CBS News<\/a> that over two-thirds of the coordinated scam networks they busted in 2022 featured AI-generated profile pictures.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some of these are autonomous Facebook bots acting in what Meta calls \u201ccoordinated inauthentic behavior,\u201d which are \u201cefforts to manipulate public debate for a strategic goal where fake accounts are central to the operation.\u201d This can include actions as massive as attempting to influence an election, or as small as generating engagement on a picture to boost its visibility on the Timeline (yes, many of the comments on AI-generated images are from Facebook bots \u2013 it\u2019s AI commenting on AI). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Otherwise, AI-generated images can simply make a fake Facebook profile look more authentic to the untrained eye.\u00a0 Phishing<\/a>, in which a scammer tries to trick victims into sharing valuable personal information like passwords or credit card numbers, has been a longstanding issue on Facebook.\u00a0 It\u2019s very common for scammers to hide behind a fake Facebook profile to make a personal connection to the victim before attempting to get that personal info directly, or to trick the victim into clicking a harmful phishing or malware link.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHow Generative AI is Affecting FB<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What Is GenAI?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Facebook's](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/image\/alessio-ferretti-upwjVq8cJRY-unsplash.jpg?resize=1024%2C604&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhat\u2019s the Problem?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Disinformation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Intellectual Property Theft<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Environmental Impact<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"how](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/image\/joshua-hoehne-Uo2ZXh4XOLY-unsplash.jpg?resize=1024%2C612&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSpam, Phishing, and Identity Theft<\/h2>\n\n\n\n