Collective Vision of Synthetic Reality

In the context of the latest developments in deep learning and neural networks, we are witnessing a fast expansion of AI-generated synthetic media circulating the Internet, including the fake audiovisual information known as deepfakes. The quality of artificially synthesized media is rapidly growing, making it harder to evaluate the authenticity of portrayed information, its origin, and its trustworthiness. Multiple companies invest their resources in finding a technological solution to detect deepfakes or authenticate audiovisual information, however this approach does not lead to a permanent solution. Added the fear that we consume from media deepfakes coverage makes people feel powerless and breaks the trust in spreading information online. As a society, we find ourselves in a paradoxical situation when the credibility of data we produce rapidly devalues, and the information revolution shifts to an era of visual skepticism and general disinformation.

Concerned about the disastrous aftermath of such dystopia, I propose a remedy in the form of a future-oriented speculative brainstorming game. This game will put responsibility for the future of synthetic media in workshop participants' hands and force them to make fast choices based on their subconscious beliefs. By participating, they will immediately get familiar with the new AI-driven tools, understand how they work, and imagine how they would use them in their own practice.

The workshop starts with a short introduction to synthetic media and currently available AI-driven generative tools, including several speculative scenarios to support participants' imagination. We will collectively brainstorm the future scenarios of synthetic media in interhuman communication during the following participatory part and create rapid prototypes of the actual synthetic information. Under a strict time limit, the participants will have to come up with speculative scenarios - good and bad - and choose the most suitable ML/AI models (or their combination) to generate the new synthetic reality with specially designed educational cards. The workshop closes with a debrief session and discussion on the consequences and possible future synthetic reality conflicts. By symbolically engaging in media synthesis, the participants will become active players of synthetic reality and create their own versions of synthetic visuals.