Wednesday, July 10, 2019
More fake concern about fake news about fake robots
Brendan Dixon reports on a convincing bit of CG that fooled a lot of people, INCLUDING ME.
Motion graphics artist @TomCoben published a video last week showing an industrial robot bowl a perfect strike. Strictly speaking, the robot did not actually bowl a strike: It rocketed the bowling ball the full length of the alley, striking the pins dead-center, sending them all flying. As The Daily Dot points out—and as Tom tried to make clear well-before his video went viral—the video is fake. As a motion graphics professional, Tom wanted to demonstrate what he can do, not what robots can do. But his video did not enjoy 16 million views because his motion graphics skills are impressive. It went viral because viewers believed that’s what robots can do.Even though I make CG all the time for work and play, I was fooled. I read that it was CG, understood that it was CG, quickly imagined the steps needed to set up the animation, and then BELIEVED IT WAS REAL. This is a tangled mess. Fortunately the solution is already available, and already mandated in the context of advertising. When an endorsement is simulated by an actor, the ad clearly and constantly shows a warning notice. When a fast car is shown doing idiotic risky shit that nobody in their right mind should ever do, the ad clearly and constantly shows "Professional driver on closed course." Just apply the same regulation to CG simulations.
Labels: Answered better than asked
¶ 5:48 AM
