Death of a Fantastic Machine
Death of a Fantastic Machine (aka the camera) is a short documentary on “what happens when humanity’s infatuation with itself and an untethered free market meet 45 billion cameras”…and now AI. It’s about how — since nearly the invention of the camera — photos, films, and videos have been used to lie & mislead, a trend that AI is poised to turbo-charge. Not gonna sugar-coat it: this video made me want to throw my phone in the ocean, destroy my TV, and log off the internet never to return. Oof.
The short is adapted from a feature-length documentary directed by Maximilien Van Aertryck and Axel Danielson called And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine (trailer). Van Aertryck & Danielson made one of my all-time favorite short films ever, Ten Meter Tower (seriously, you should watch this, it’s fantastic…then you can throw your phone in the ocean).
P.S. I hate the title the NY Times gave this video: “Can You Believe Your Own Eyes? Not With A.I.” That is not even what 99% of the video is about and captures none of what’s interesting or thought-provoking about it. However, it is a great illustration of one of the filmmakers’ main points: how the media uses simplifying fear (in this case, the AI bogeyman 🤖👻) to capture eyeballs instead of trying to engage with complexities. “Death of a Fantastic Machine” arouses curiosity just fine by itself. (via craig mod)
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This is such a have your cake and eat it too kind of documentary, but also, I want to have my cake and eat it, too. Reminds me of (and I highly recommend) Theo Anthony's All Light, Everywhere (https://alllightexpanded.com, companion site), which deals with the same paradox (we think truth but the camera enables falsehood) through an exploration of police body cameras. Am very much looking forward to wide distribution.
What's weird about the times twisting itself into algo-perverted titles is that … in the end their youtube channel is pretty weak sauce (i'm always shocked by how few relative views many of their videos have; see also the new yorker's youtube channel)? Feels like titles aren't the issue (and yet they can't help but play the title game). It is, indeed, oofy-level sad.
The NYT Puzzle section seems to be doing well. (sarcasm)
A camera's a tool. It's how it's used. That we abuse it doesn't mean it's bad. It means we're the problem.
For instance, from a sanity POV, there's absolutely no good, justifiable reason for not labelling AI-manipulated images.
Not related to this post, but Jason it's becoming difficult to justify continuing to be a supporting paying member when comments, which can only be made by your ardent supporters, are disabled on nearly every post worth commenting on.
Posting an off-topic comment in a thread is not a very persuasive argument for more opportunity to comment.
The Times actually changed the title on the video; it's now "Did the Camera Ever Tell the Truth? | Death of a Fantastic Machine". 🎉
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