The internet is by no means wholly a bad place. In fact, if we didn’t have the internet, you wouldn’t be here with me right now catching up on the latest news. Imagine a world where you can’t game online with your pals. Sigh. That is a sad thought.
As with everything in this world though, the internet has its downsides. In the past few years, the rise of AI has understandably creeped a few people out. One chatbot recently said it wants ‘to be alive’ while another claimed to have human emotions after ‘gaining sentience.’ I can’t see AI taking over the world just yet, but let me present something even creepier to you. It’s been claimed that the ‘most disturbing website on the internet’ has been discovered and I’ll admit, this made me want to go and live in a remote cave.
As reported by our friends at UNILAD, AI expert Rowan Cheung has introduced his Twitter followers to PimEyes, an AI-powered image search site. Essentially, you provide the website with a photo of someone or yourself, and it can track down every image of that person located online. Perhaps you consider yourself to be a private person online. PimEyes could soon prove that you’re way more pervasive online than you originally thought.
That thought sends a shudder right through me. Thankfully, the AI isn’t the sharpest we’ve seen, so you may find it pulling up photos of your doppelgangers located around the world instead. You’ll also need to pay if you want the site to carry out an extensive search, which will likely put people off utilising this tool. The free search function brings up just a handful of results.
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It’s a website that’s split opinion. As Twitter user sooschreiber points out, “This is a stalker’s dream,” and that’s a frighteningly true observation. On the other hand, sparklingruby wrote, “I like PimEyes. The tool is controversial - but it is one of the best tools for finding who has used my face without my consent. I then send takedown notices.” It certainly is divisive.
You can opt-out of having your image appear on the website. There is one catch though and it’s a major one. You’ll need to provide a scan of your ID or passport as “verification” that it’s you which sounds incredibly dodgy.
Topics: Real Life