● PLAYBOOK // VOL. 25 // SEQ. 10 // SD. 302 // 6 MIN READ

I Betchu Believe Me Now [AI]

NiKole "Technikole" Maxwell

Chief Innovation & Implementation Strategist

Video: Like, Watch and Subscribe on YouTube

It’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and I want to talk about the single biggest threat to our identity. It’s not just a hacker aiming to guess your password. It’s AI; solutions that can generate nearly anything particularly - “you”, literally.

I have the receipts.

Earlier this year, I “attempted” to participate in one of those AI “action figure” or “Barbie” trends using ChatGPT-4. The results were… bad. I didn’t have time to perfect them so they were lazy, low-quality implementations that literally returned my head stuck onto a plastic body,”. My action just didn’t look like me. They weren’t me so LinkedIn never saw those renditions because they simply weren’t right.

That was just a few months ago.

Hop through the portal to this week, I used my own customized version of Google’s “Past Forward” app powered by Gemini. Its one of those nostalgic type of apps, like a time machine. Gemini reimagines you in past decades with character consistency. I gave it one photo (arguably not a good one), I just literally browsed and clicked upload. In a single click, it generated six, context-perfect, historically authentic, photorealistic versions of me complete with clothes, hair, makeup and background setting.

This isn’t an article about a cool new tool ( and yes is it fantastic). This is an article about the terrifying and thrilling rate of rapid change and what can happened if you remain unaware of what is possible. My expertise is future technology specifically - implementation - Major leaps and bounds in technology these days it’s kind of like falling on deaf ears ‘cause it’s happening every 3.7 seconds but this one is legit and it’s legit because I literally have receipts. Our tools just went from a plastic toy to a nuclear reactor. Are we ready for this from personal, business or regulatory standpoint? If your answer to that is “no…of course not”, Then At least you’re self aware! For everyone else and for those who have completely tapped out and decided to just let AI wash over them - it is time for you get off the bench and learn AI so that you can learn what you don’t know, and probably never could have guessed is possible.

We’re Not in “Pleasantville” Anymore

For years, our digital identity cool but lack luster. I helped thousands understand what the Metaverse was and years ago I introduced my team to GPT3, but I’ve always said I felt like what we were being offered was Pleasantville in comparison to the possibilities. I’ve used my “fun” cartoonish avatars on podcasts and at conferences, In virtual metaverses and pretty much everywhere I could think of but I’ve been doing that since 2016. I have my own Matrix Avatars (on the blockchain) which we were excited to mint in hopes of wider adoption of “ MetaHumans”. And then AI rolled out more and we got the ability to generate avatars and animate them. Getting to the point of having an acceptable “version” took finesse and tokens or a stack of platform subscriptions which we happily forked over in the name of innovation and cool…but there was still a little something that wasn’t as lifelike as it could have been.

[stop] We are so far past that. We’re heading to a new standard.

The new standard is what I’m calling “Generative Lifelike Creations”.

This isn’t just about a static portrait or a clumsy avatar. The power of this new implementation is the ability link all types of generative tools together to be in any place in time. Time, Persona and Immersion. If I want to insert myself into a 1920s family album and claim I looked just like my great auntie Bertha, I can. If I want to see myself in medieval times as a “Lady of the Court,” serving Queen Elizabeth herself or wait, better yet be best friends with the Duchess herself, I can do that, too.

This new wave of AI doesn’t just create an image; it puts you in the drivers seat to authentically reimagine whatever persona and identity you want, within a new context. If I couple that with the immersive reality (potential) of the Metaverse and the opportunity to be interconnected and interoperable - it gives me the freedom to traverse the digital universe and truly show up how I want.

And if I can do this… so can anyone else.

Identity on the Marketplace

This is where the good ol times end and the Cybersecurity Awareness begins.

We now have tools that can create “generative lifelike creation” in seconds. Layer on top of that AI voice cloning, which can replicate (or alter) a voice from a small sample, and tack on any number of other generative options…

How do you protect your digital identity at all at this point?

This is no longer a “maybe in the future” problem. It’s a “right now” problem. We are facing a world where anyone can:

• Create a lifelike video of anyone, in any setting, wearing anything, saying anything.

• Clone a voice to authorize a transaction (or spread misinformation)

• Create a fully programmable, realistic avatar and “show up as somebody else totally different.”

And with 16 BILLION passwords high jacked and hanging in the wind, you can believe that someone out there is waiting to use them. The possibilities here take identity theft to an automated, scalable, and extremely convincing, nearly terrifying level.

A compilation of over 30 databases containing login credentials was discovered, including passwords from major companies like Apple, Facebook, and Google this massive collection of user passwords could be used for account takeovers, identity theft, or highly targeted phishing attacks.

The Governance Gauntlet

This demands a new conversation, not about “if” but about “how”…

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The real vision of the Metaverse is one where we can implement realistic, lifelike personas and traverse any virtual space seamlessly [interconnected and interoperable]. What an incredibly powerful moment for self-identy, self-expression and virtual immersion…right?

This also creates a governance nightmare, and we aren’t ready. This isn’t a problem we can just “mint on the blockchain and solve,” (though that will be part of the future solution for verification). This is a here-and-now AI governance crisis that “HAS” rolled out and IS available for everyone, creative and not.

How do we regulate this? The solution is not as simple as a watermark. How do we establish trust when you can no longer believe your own eyes or ears? How do we create frameworks to protect our own “generative lifelike creations” from being hijacked?

I look absolutely fantastic in each and everyone one of those pics (thank you *blush*) I gleaned some hair tricks and makeup tips along the way and yes I will be using them lol. But there is are also a warning in the creation process that might just send a chill up your spine… The future I’ve been talking about is already here, this problem is already among us and its happening underneath the veil of distraction that is providing us all with mental Olympics so we don’t have time to look too hard.

If you are someone who is tired of hearing about things and not seeing for yourself, reach out…

LET’S TALK

PS: Thank you to all of our subscribers, premium Techies and Innovative Founders!