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'People could get hurt': Conservationists decry AI wildlife visuals
Experts say synthetic wildlife posts can mislead viewers, fuel exploitation and undermine research, with one September study calling the spread a major threat.
- Conservationists warn that hyper-realistic AI-generated wildlife images distort public perception and fuel illegal exploitation of endangered species. These synthetic visuals often portray wild animals as cute pets or tourism props, complicating conservation education efforts.
- Jose Guerrero-Casado, a zoology professor at Spain's University of Cordoba, warns that misperceptions lead people to approach animals unsafely. He cited a January incident in China's Xinjiang region where a woman was attacked by a rare snow leopard after trying to photograph it.
- Chris Lewis of Born Free says AI content increases demand for certain species "to be used in the tourism industry as photo props, exploited to make social media content or to be kept as pets." Experts writing in Nature warn AI manipulations could compromise citizen science research data.
- Despite Meta and TikTok requiring AI-generated content labels, AFP fact-checkers spotted multiple wildlife posts without clear identification, even when users acknowledged in captions the images were synthetic. The labeling enforcement gap persists across major platforms.
- Jenny Roberts of conservation group WWF warned that fake content "desensitises" people to genuine wildlife footage, saying "the negative impacts outweigh that completely." A Conservation Biology study co-authored by Guerrero-Casado concluded AI misinformation is a "major threat" to species identification and conservation.
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11 Articles
Spectacular animal clichés multiply in the digital space. They amuse us or move us, but they are increasingly generated by artificial intelligence.
·France
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This lack of understanding in generating the videos can lead to people getting too close to the animals or interacting with them in a dangerous way without really knowing the risks.The post Animals created by AI, a threat to wildlife and humans appeared first on THE NATIONAL.
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estrepublicain.frArtificial intelligence-generated animal videos alter the perception of wildlife and modify behaviors, which can prove dangerous for both animals and humans.
Coverage Details
Total News Sources11
Leaning Left1Leaning Right2Center4Last UpdatedBias Distribution57% Center
Bias Distribution
- 57% of the sources are Center
57% Center
14%
C 57%
R 29%
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