Generative Artificial Intelligence has taken over much of the online content and the internet is now flooded with AI-generated adorable animal videos.
The bizarre clips of lions running from rats, wolves enjoying on a trampoline or interspecies play dates dominate the social media feed these days.
However, a recent study published in Conservation Biology has raised the alarm against such types of videos, stating that these convincingly faux creations are putting conservation efforts at risk.
The paper was authored by Jose Guerrero of the GESBIO group at the University of Cordoba in Spain. In an interview with Phys(dot)org, he said, “They reflect characteristics, behaviors, habitats, or relationships between species that are not real.”
Guerrero said that the video often shows predators and prey playing together, they show animals with human behavior which is far from reality.
The study collaborator Rocio Serrano noted that such kind of indistinction between humans and animals is only displayed by school going children due to their lack of knowledge.
The author added that such “unreal” and “fabricated” scenarios pose a danger to conservation efforts, adding, “Vulnerable species appear abundant in these videos which is very negative for conservation.”
The study further states that such videos can create false assumptions among children, who might want to play with dangerous animals they saw in an AI-generated video.
