People online duped for thinking AI influencer Mia Zelu is real as deepfake accounts skyrocket across social media
Courtside among the biggest names at Wimbledon? Yep. A Coldplay concert experience of a lifetime? Completed it. Sipping coffee in picturesque Italian streets? Piece of cake.
Her Instagram page is filled with big bucket list stuff. Except it's not real.
Not the typical social media personality, Zelu is actually an AI influencer, meaning she's just a generated picture on a screen. Nothing more.
But she looks so real that most of her 167k Instagram followers wouldn't even know she doesn't actually exist.
Don't tell those who keep up with her 'sister' Ana Zelu, who's fooled even more people with 267k followers who interact with her either unknowing or uncaring of the truth behind her account.
With their photorealistic posts and human-like captions, the fake sisters are just a few of the increasing number of AI accounts that are fooling people into thinking they're real, despite (some of) their bios stating they aren't.
Tech expert and editor of EFTM.com Trevor Long says the reason these accounts are having the same effect on people as real influencers is because AI has understood what people are drawn to and can feed into the same patterns without skipping a beat.
For a technological tool designed to help people, having it understand what people want isn't a bad thing. The danger is not knowing what's real and what's not.
'Most of us don't know the influencer on the other side of [an] Instagram account that is real, so knowing that someone is real or artificial intelligence actually doesn't change much of the perception of content,' Mr Long told news.com.au.
'However, if that content is sculpted and created in such a way that it is truly targeted and you don't have the morals of a real human being deciding whether or not they will sit in that spot, take that photo, try that thing, go to that event, we start to really push the boundaries of where this influential culture might go.'
Getty Images' Asia-Pacific head of creative Kate Roruke said they've conducted research that found that although 65 per cent of people could spot an AI photo, more than 95 per cent also mistook real images for AI.
'People are used to seeing curated, almost perfect images from human influencers, achieved through extensive editing, filters and professional photography. Zelu, being entirely AI-generated, naturally embodies this idealised flawless skin, perfect lighting and picture-perfect poses,' she said.
But concerns then about the extreme uses of the tech then also create a problem, like deep fake pornographic material which has pushed the moral and ethical boundaries of AI.
Numerous celebrities like Taylor Swift and face of the NRLW Jaime Chapman have already become victims.
The value of knowing if something is real has never been more important in an age when a tool not everyone yet understands is already out of control.
Mr Long says it is incumbent on the big tech companies like Meta and TikTok to be able to give users validation on what is real and what isn't, and give precedence to the real people using their platforms.
'We talk so much about the algorithm. It should be the case that real people are prioritised so that we know that we can listen to and decide whether or not we trust that person, otherwise we're probably putting our trust in an AI fake individual,' he said.
While easier said than done, companies like YouTube have taken steps towards creating better clarity and priority to real content, last week announcing they were demonetising accounts and channels that generate purely AI generated content.
'There's some fun AI videos out there. It might be a kangaroo doing a vlog or silly things like that,' Mr Long said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
8 hours ago
- News.com.au
Final video of Ozzy Osbourne emerges, taken just 2 days before his death at 76
IN LONDON The final video taken of Ozzy Osbourne, where he's seen having breakfast with his family two days before his death, has emerged. The legendary musician, 76, passed away on Tuesday at his home in Buckinghamshire, UK, surrounded by his family, after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. Shortly before his death, his daughter Kelly shared a sweet video of him on her Instagram Story. In it, Ozzy is sitting at a table, wearing a pair of headphones and using a tablet, with his daughter and her two-year-old son, Sidney. Kelly, 40, is seen saying 'good morning' into the camera before panning it to her father, prompting him: 'Dadda, say good morning', which he obliges. It comes after new details emerged of Ozzy's death, with the Daily Mail reporting that paramedics 'worked for hours' to save his life, after rushing to his mansion via helicopter. A Thames Valley air ambulance reportedly landed in a field near the English countryside home at 10:30am Tuesday, local time, with medics rushing inside to respond to the call for help. The outlet claimed the medics worked for two hours to try and save the rocker's life, but to no avail. 'We can confirm that our helicopter was dispatched to provide advanced critical care at an incident near Chalfont St Giles yesterday,' a spokesman for Thames Valley air ambulance confirmed to the Daily Mail. News of Ozzy's passing was confirmed in a statement released by his loved ones on Tuesday, which confirmed he had been 'with his family and surrounded by love'. 'It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning,' the statement read. 'He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.' It was signed: 'Sharon, Jack, Kelly, Aimee and Louis.' Black Sabbath also paid tribute to their late lead singer on Instagram after the news broke, writing alongside an image of him onstage: 'Ozzy Forever.' Osbourne, known as the 'Prince of Darkness' for his wild on stage antics, performed his final gig with his Black Sabbath bandmates just this month on 5 July in Villa Park in Birmingham. The band – including Osbourne, Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward – played a short five-song set, which was touted as 'the greatest heavy metal show ever'. At the time, he made it clear it would be his final performance as a result of his deteriorating health related to Parkinson's disease, which he'd first opened up about in 2020. It was the first time he had performed with Black Sabbath for 20 years.
ABC News
13 hours ago
- ABC News
Feature Video: The Last Dinner Party - This Is The Killer Speaking
It's the start of a new, bold era for The Last Dinner Party, who have taken out this week's Feature Video with the first release from their sophomore album, 'This Is The Killer Speaking'. It marks the band's eighth collaboration with director Harv Frost, who is also behind the band's previous music videos, including the short film 'Prelude to Ecstacy', a compilation of four music videos released last year. Similar to 'Prelude's' nods to Giallo films such as Suspiria and Profondo Rosso, dark fantasy features front and centre in 'This Is The Killer Speaking', with scenes of centaur women and a Jack the Ripper-esque figure alternating with the band's raucous performance in a neon-soaked saloon. 'This Is The Killer Speaking' is the first track to be released from The Last Dinner Party's sophomore album From The Pyre, which they say has been heavily influenced by the conscious mythologising of real-life events. 'This record is a collection of stories, and the concept of album-as-mythos binds them' explains the band. ''The Pyre' itself is an allegorical place in which these tales originate, a place of violence and destruction but also regeneration, passion and light.' Speaking to Rolling Stone UK, vocalist Abigail Morris explains 'We'd found a new way of mythologising where everything that happened is true, but the whole record is about the nature of being an artist, and what does it mean to take a love story that happened to you, and to take that person and turn them into a character that's immortalised in a song. When does that person stop being the real person you were in a relationship with and start becoming a character that is separate from that? That, for me, is what a lot of these songs cover.'
News.com.au
19 hours ago
- News.com.au
Single pic exposes how grim Sydney dating really is
Commentary in response to a photograph has exposed Sydney's bleak dating scene, as many share details of absolutely unhinged behaviour they have encountered while trying to find a soulmate. An image posted to TikTok of the Barangaroo skyline was accompanied by a simple question – asking people to share tales of their worst date in the Harbour City — and the answers did not disappoint. Hordes of social media users unashamedly unloaded their dating traumas. Some were about getting stiffed on the bill at dinner. Some called out dating culture in general. Others shared very specific details of their dud dates. To sum it up — if you don't laugh, you'll cry. Yes, it's that dark. 'Took her to a nice restaurant. She ordered a $30 drink. Didn't like the drink, so she ordered another. Didn't like that one either, so she ordered a THIRD and wasted the other two,' one said. 'She ordered four lots of food to 'try'. Only ate half of it and took the rest home in three takeaway boxes. Bill was $250. I didn't realise this date was supposed to be her meal prep for the week.' Another asked: 'What date? People don't approach you in Sydney.' 'Picked me up and asked me where I wanna go to eat. I said 'I don't know. I thought you had a plan',' one social media user commented. 'He took me to Macca's. I was put off so I just asked for an ice cream and he made me pay for my it and complained that I expected him to pay for my 80c ice cream.' Another revealed: 'Guy asks me out. I order a cocktail. He says 'oh how many of those are you gonna have? I don't wanna have to call my dad for money to cover the bill later'. He was 46.' 'It got so bad I moved states,' another shared. One social media user added: 'I told him I don't drink and he took me bar hopping.' 'The problem with dating in Sydney is that if you don't live next door to them you might as well live on Mars, because it's just as much effort to get them to meet you halfway,' one commented. Another weighed in: 'This bad culture is solely because of dating apps.' 'Went on a date with someone, 2nd date in they wanted my social media passwords. I never dropped someone back at their place so quick in my life. No thanks,' shared someone. One commented: 'HE ASKED ME FOR RENT MONEY, after meeting ONCE. And I had to pick him up and I got us food and he ate it all LEFT ME NOTHING and then tried to kiss me.' 'What dates? I'm just a certified pen pal at this point,' one added. Another said: 'He took me to Woolies on the first date and proceeded to buy his mum groceries and he kept getting calls from his mum the entire time.' 'I was 24 and he was 32. When I told him my age he gasped, said I'm so old and proceeded to say his grandmother had four kids at my age. He kept swearing, zero decorum and decency,' one person divulged. Samantha Jayne, a relationship expert, was left asking one question after seeing what had unfolded in the comment section. 'Where has the romance gone?' She said the experience of Sydneysiders was 'sad' and showed just how many people were lacking empathy when it came to the dating scene. She did point out a lot of these were 'extreme cases' and most were 'fortunate cases of dodging a bullet'. 'The common theme is most bad dates are when the focus is on the superficial things,' she said. 'The cause is often because there's no emotional connection established and therefore no empathy. It's all about what is in it for me. 'Empathy requires some level of understanding or resonance with another person's emotions — and if that connection hasn't formed, their ability (or willingness) to empathise might feel absent.' Ms Jayne said the recurring theme was empty and disposable, and stemmed from a 'grass is always greener' perspective, thanks to the pick-up culture that has long been established in Sydney. 'Ultimately, even the people who are looking for the next best thing feel lonely and want a connection, in many cases the most insecure people reject before they get rejected or self sabotage to prevent a real connection forming,' she said. So, is Sydney a worse place for love than other cities in the world? According to Ms Jayne, yes. 'I love Sydney, I think it's one of the most beautiful places in the world but according to Time Out Magazine the city is a battlefield when it comes to love,' she said. 'An annual survey conducted ranked Sydney as one of the top 10 worst places to find love. 'Sydney ranks among 10 worst places in the world for finding love.' She pointed out that Sydneysiders have high expectations, and due to cost of living there is a focus on status, wealth and physical appearance. She said it's also a very 'clique' based city with tight-knit social circles. 'Often the two most common questions asked are 'Where do you live' and 'What do you do?' Most people date within their stereotypical suburbs which can create the socio economic divide,' she explained. Ms Jayne said another reason first dates can feel awkward and performative is, because at the end of the day, they are surface level interactions. She said without depth they may not feel invested enough to feel vulnerable. It can lead to a cycle of hurt and avoiding feeling vulnerable. 'Bottom line is some people have mismatched intentions while you may be wanting something genuine. A person may have watched one too many drama filled dating shows as they try to keep things cool,' she said. 'Dating is mostly based on perceptions and individual experiences, it is important to consider mindset and filtering. 'If you have a bad date, dust yourself off and try again. Don't let it get you down, instead laugh it off and get out there and meet someone who is aligned and makes you feel good.'
