Synthetic Human Memories: AI-Edited Images and Videos Can Implant False Memories and Distort Recollection

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that AI-altered images and videos can significantly increase false memories and confidence in those memories, raising ethical and societal concerns about AI's impact on human recollection.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence that AI editing tools can implant false memories, highlighting the need to understand AI's influence on human cognition and memory.

Findings

AI-edited visuals increase false memories significantly.

AI-generated videos of AI-edited images have the strongest effect.

Confidence in false memories is highest with AI-generated videos of AI-edited images.

Abstract

AI is increasingly used to enhance images and videos, both intentionally and unintentionally. As AI editing tools become more integrated into smartphones, users can modify or animate photos into realistic videos. This study examines the impact of AI-altered visuals on false memories--recollections of events that didn't occur or deviate from reality. In a pre-registered study, 200 participants were divided into four conditions of 50 each. Participants viewed original images, completed a filler task, then saw stimuli corresponding to their assigned condition: unedited images, AI-edited images, AI-generated videos, or AI-generated videos of AI-edited images. AI-edited visuals significantly increased false recollections, with AI-generated videos of AI-edited images having the strongest effect (2.05x compared to control). Confidence in false memories was also highest for this condition (1.19x compared to control). We discuss potential applications in HCI, such as therapeutic memory reframing, and challenges in ethical, legal, political, and societal domains.