AI Creep

On TTG’s “zero tolerance” for adding AI‑generated content

  • 1. What is AI creep?

    “AI creep” is TTG’s term for the reality that once any AI-generated content (AI-GC) is added to a visual record — whether photo or video — then there are no limits except arbitrary limits to constrain further use of AI-GC.

  • 2. When does AI creep happen?

    It happens when an image creator or provider realizes that viewers who didn’t object to the addition of a little bit of AI-GC surely wouldn’t object to a little more AI‑GC...

    . . . and, since there’s no natural stopping point, the AI-GC can eventually dominate the image.

  • 3. Why is the use of AI an issue?

    Because — unlike many other modern forms of expression — photos and videos can be detailed records, made by a human being in mere seconds, of a real-life scene.

    In fact, most of the billions of photos and videos created every day start out as records (“This is where I was and what I saw”).

    That explains why viewers often care whether the photo or video they’re seeing is or is not a trustworthy record of what a particular person saw (at a particular place, at a particular time)...

    . . . undiluted by the addition of even a single pixel of AI-generated content.

  • 4. Isn’t TTG’s “zero tolerance” policy a bit harsh?

    The “zero tolerance” approach to adding AI-generated content in TTG photos and videos may seem harsh.

    But unless someone can create standards for “partial use” of AI-generated content, the viewing public is unlikely to fully trust photos and videos that are suspected of having any added AI-generated content at all.