Seeing the Northern Lights is a common bucket list item for many.
2024 has been one of the best years to witness the aurora borealis, with the British Geological Survey pointing out that strong solar activity affecting Earth's magnetic field has brought the aerial light display to more southerly regions in the northern hemisphere than usual.
View on Threads
But not all of us were lucky enough to witness this phenomenon, and Facebook and Instagram owner Meta thought it would come to the rescue for anyone experiencing jealousy.
"POV: you missed the northern lights IRL, so you made your own with MetaAI," it posted on Threads, accompanied by artificial intelligence images of the aurora over recognizable U.S. locations.
To put it kindly, the post did not go down so well.
"As a NASA engineer and artist I constantly need to debunk these fake images," one Threads user commented. "These spread false information and only make our cultural intelligence worse. They misinform the science and muddy the waters of reality. No one wants this and to promote it like this is misguided at best."
"In what universe would anyone want this," another said.
There are a number of issues at play here. One is the fact that it might stop money going to the photographers who captured remarkable images of one of the world's most stunning — and rare — natural occurrences.
Another is the dilution of a shared experience. Creating artificial images of the aurora makes the event less exclusive to those who actually did witness it, and it shifts the conversation away from the natural event to a fabricated one.
But it's also a serious waste. According to MIT Technology Review, making an AI image uses as much energy as charging a smartphone. Encouraging users to engage in this practice will be an electricity drain and ramp up the production of pollution as energy providers — which still mostly rely on dirty fuels to create power — try to keep up with power demand.
AI requires large data centers, which consume a lot of power and water. While the technology can be put to good use — such as for improved healthcare and better crop production — using it for computer-generated Northern Lights pictures is a frivolous activity that will add up to a huge waste of resources.
Given the negative outcry, Meta might want to take the feedback to heart and reconsider how it uses AI.
"Gross," one Threads user said. "Real photos over AI every time."
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