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Cute animals, cute babies, cute everything – AI videos are driving me nuts

  • Writer: Connie Lacy
    Connie Lacy
  • 9 hours ago
  • 2 min read

Updated: 4 minutes ago





A Pet Peeve -

You’ve probably seen the video of cute bunnies bouncing on a trampoline. It pretends to be home security footage but it's actually created by AI. Then there’s the AI video showing a cat scaring a bear away from a little boy on a back porch. They’re part of the onslaught of AI videos flooding our social media feeds. And then there are the AI videos showing cute babies laughing at their dad and cute babies laughing at their (always handsome) doctor, etc.

 

First off, rabbits cannot jump on trampolines. Watch this short video for more on that:

 

  

Harmless, right? Well, maybe not.

 

If we think it’s okay for a little boy to smile while holding an otter in his arms, we could be teaching our children that this kind of behavior is normal. But do we really want to teach children that it’s fine and dandy to interact close-up with wild animals?

 

Think about it. Even domesticated animals can hurt children. Sometimes seriously. I’m not saying your cat or dog is mean. But we need to teach children to be careful. For instance, if people believe all cats and dogs are harmless, we might fail to protect little humans from pets that could easily hurt them by accident. My family had a wonderful, loving dog for 14 years. He wouldn’t intentionally have hurt anyone, large or small. But it was unsafe for him to be around young children because he didn’t have the ability to temper his enthusiasm. He was 50 pounds with big teeth and sharp claws.

 

I have an animal lover friend who posts videos that make it seem like animals are so loving, that we don’t need to fear them, that we can feed a buffalo or a bear by holding food out in our hand. But even our pets can hurt us, whether accidentally, like the kitten who bit me on my cheek while playing, or on purpose like the dog who nipped at my heels. What if a pet did that to a baby? Even domesticated animals can get spooked, like a horse startled by a loud noise that rears up and throws his rider to the ground.

 

Of course, this is just the tippy-tip-tip of the AI iceberg.

 

At least this particular brand of AI video – you might call it Cuteness Overload – doesn’t deceive us about important issues and events. Like the AI videos misrepresenting scenes of destruction and war, AI videos misrepresenting what happens during confrontations between protesters and law enforcement, or AI videos that lie about what government officials or celebrities say or do. Sad to say, we must be increasingly vigilant as AI becomes harder to detect.


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