Vox: How fake AI images can expand your mind
UC‘s Tony Chemero gives commentary on AI-generated images
According to Vox, philosophers contend that image-generating AI will allow us to see realistic depictions of what does not yet exist, expanding the kinds of futures we can imagine as visual realities.
Pope Francis in a white puffer jacket from u/trippy_art_special’s post on the Midjourney subreddit
The article centers around an AI-generated image of the Pope wearing a puffer jacket, which went viral on social media. The image fooled some, but not others, because the image had giveaways that it was not real (i.e., blurred lines). Many contend that AI will likely advance to create perfect images and create a “hyper-reality.”
Philosopher and cognitive scientist Tony Chemero, a UC professor of philosophy and psychology and member of the Center for Cognition, Action, and Perception, is quoted in the article as saying that it might not be a bad thing to have more visual information, even if it is altered reality. He and others contend that AI makes it easier for the mind to include new possibilities in how it imagines the world, reducing the barriers to believing that they could become a lived reality.
Chemero’s views on how humans can expand their thinking by interfacing with technology (“Smart technology is not making us dumber”) are widely publicized and elicited hundreds of media citations nationally and internationally:
UC philosopher and cognitive scientist Tony Chemero. Photo/Joseph Fuqua/UC Creative + Brand.
Chemero also told Vox that any tool that changes how we interact with the world also changes how we understand ourselves, adding: “Especially what we understand ourselves as being capable of.”
Featured image at top: Markus Spiske/Unsplash
Impact Lives Here
The University of Cincinnati is leading public urban universities into a new era of innovation and impact. Our faculty, staff and students are saving lives, changing outcomes and bending the future in our city's direction. Next Lives Here.
Related Stories
FOX 6: Smart technology not making us dumber
July 7, 2021
Smart tech is not making dummies out of us, says UC's Anthony Chemero, in a Fox 6 Milwaukee story.
Vox: How fake AI images can expand your mind
March 31, 2023
Seeing is believing, to the mind. In a Vox article on the impact of AI-generated imagery, UC's Tony Chemero, a philosopher and cognitive scientist, is cited as saying that technology has the potential to expand the mind. The article comes at a time when leading tech influencers are asking for a pause on the development of AI.
All in the mind? The surprising truth about brain rot
January 31, 2025
In an article by The Guardian, UC faculty Anthony Chemero weighs in on whether technology denigrates brain function. Chemero and other brain/behavior experts contend that technology enhances human function.