JOHANNESBURG - The surge of AI-driven misinformation is a growing concern.
South Africa faces a wave of digitally altered misinformation.
This has the ability to affect public safety, community conflict and social cohesion.
Founder and CEO of Verified, Khumo Makiti says AI-generated misinformation has become sophisticated.
“The problem is serious and it has no people to doubt everything. You should not be a detective to tell whether a picture or video is real or not," she said.
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Makiti warns that AI now gives misinformation “a scary superpower”.
“It can clone your body, your voice — and people will start believing it. [The sad reality] is that many people simply don’t have the tools to check if an image or video has been manipulated.”
With AI becoming more accessible through smartphones and free online tools, more South Africans are unknowingly consuming and sharing false content.
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Makiti added, “People are trusting information generated by AI without questioning it.”
To address the growing concern, Makiti says Verified provides a platform that uses forensic investigation techniques to analyses whether uploaded content is authentic.
The system examines images and videos for signs of manipulation and, once validated, submits the content to a blockchain system.
“That process gives it a verified seal. We have decided to give truth a badge or a truth seal,” Makiti explained.