Riccardo Simonetti becomes unwitting AI advertising figure

German presenter and author Riccardo Simonetti has found himself unwillingly transformed into an advertising tool for artificial intelligence fakes. He described an incident where a product he promoted was an "AI-fake" that was so realistic, "so many people believed it."

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I was sitting in my living room and advertised a product and it was simply one-to-one AI-fake.

Simonetti, speaking in a dpa interview, expressed concern over the evolving landscape of social media. He contrasted the past, when platforms like Myspace allowed for individual customization, with the present, where users are pressured to conform to popular trends. "Your videos are only played if you use the same music, do the same Reels as everyone else," he stated, adding that algorithms only recognize users who follow the crowd, leading to a cycle of imitation.

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It looked so real that very many people believed it.

His upcoming videopodcast, "Saus & Applaus," co-hosted with Palina Rojinski, is set to debut soon. Rojinski echoed Simonetti's concerns, calling algorithms "very dangerous" for their potential to narrow perspectives. She warned that repeated exposure to content on a specific topic could lead algorithms to exclusively present similar viewpoints. Rojinski cautioned against accepting poorly researched videos at face value and suggested the need for regulation.

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Your videos are only played if you use the same music, do the same Reels as everyone else.