The vast majority of the synthetic images do not indicate in the posts or on the pages that they are AI-generated, even though Meta requires users to label AI-generated content on its platforms while it is working toward methods to automatically detect such content.
Meta did not respond to a request for comment.
As generative AI technology makes it easier to propagate misleading content and outright disinformation, information researchers have grown increasingly concerned about the implications of unchecked AI images’ flooding social platforms.
Though certain hallmarks of AI-generated art can make it easier to tell real images from synthetic ones, the lack of systematic labeling has some users — especially older ones — falling for falsified content, according to comments on many of the posts. Those Facebook pages have not exhibited clear motives for their AI spam, but users are already pointing out the potential of a scam operation.
The Stanford study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, also found that some of the images have been posted from Facebook pages that were stolen from other people or organizations, including a church in Georgia and a windmill seller, and then repurposed into AI spam pages.
One such page, now filled with AI images of Jesus and flight attendants, has kept the name of a high school band from North Carolina. Karen Jarvis, a spokesperson for Davie County Schools, confirmed in an email that the page Davie High School War Eagle Bands is now unaffiliated with the school, which was forced to create a new page.
“In fact, it was the original DCHS Band’s Facebook page, but was hijacked from our high school band, and has since become what you see today,” Jarvis wrote. “There have been countless attempts (from the band director, school officials, current band members, and alumni) to regain control, report the page/images, etc., but Facebook has been non-responsive.”
The phenomenon has also caused some observers to speculate that the…
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