Overlooked Costs of AI: Three Key Stories

1. Unauthorized Use of Artistic Styles
- A digital artist, Greg, had his name used by 400,000 people as prompts in AI image generation without consent, raising issues of intellectual property and style exploitation.
- Such misuse stems from poor or insufficient AI education in companies leading employees to rely on ungrounded social media advice.
- Actionable:
- Implement thorough AI education combining practical and theoretical knowledge to understand AI’s workings and limitations.
- Develop detailed company guidelines using a risk-reward matrix evaluating roles, tasks, risks, and benefits of AI automation.

2. AI-Powered Impersonation and Financial Fraud
- The story of Steve, who lost $25 million due to an AI-generated voice scam impersonating his boss and colleagues.
- Elderly people like the speaker’s grandmother are targeted but can be safeguarded by security protocols (e.g., family code words).
- Organizations’ verification systems are vulnerable as humans cannot reliably detect AI fakes.
- Actions to counter risks:
- Enforce multi-factor verification (both online and offline) for sensitive tasks such as payments and recruitment.
- Use media monitoring tools to protect executives from impersonation.
- Label AI-generated content clearly to increase awareness of AI's capabilities.
- Encourage families to establish security codes for emergency verification.

3. Deepfake Pornography and Psychological Harm
- Victoria’s story illustrates the trauma caused by deepfake pornography, depicting non-consensual and fabricated sexual images made with AI.
- This phenomenon affects students, teachers, employees, celebrities, journalists, and can potentially affect anyone, especially women in power.
- Prevention requires broad education beyond AI alone, including digital literacy, media literacy, digital well-being, social media awareness, parasocial relationship education, and sex education.
- National initiatives (e.g., Poland) are starting to add digital well-being to curricula, but global efforts are needed.

The Importance of Transparency and Education
- Transparency about AI use in daily life and work helps combat misconceptions and potential harms.
- Actions:
- Publicly disclose when content is AI-generated or AI-assisted.
- Promote honest portrayals of life on social media to reduce harmful comparisons and unrealistic expectations (example of Anna and AI filters).
- Educate especially young people on the nature and limitations of AI chatbots to prevent mental health risks (example of Martin).
- Awareness can prevent victimization and promote empathy, reducing the likelihood of harm caused by AI misuse.

Call to Action
- The audience is encouraged to make a concrete decision on one AI-related topic to discuss with their family to ensure safety in the AI era.
- Sharing of these discussions and solutions is welcomed by the speaker.

Key Actionable Items
- Provide comprehensive, practical, and theoretical AI education for all employees.
- Create detailed AI usage guidelines using a risk-reward approach per role and task.
- Enforce multi-channel, multi-factor verification for critical processes.
- Protect executives with monitoring tools against AI impersonation.
- Label AI-generated content clearly in public domains.
- Develop and promote digital literacy programs covering AI, media, digital well-being, and social issues.
- Encourage open conversations and transparency about AI use in families and workplaces.
- Advocate for educational curriculum changes to include digital well-being globally.