During a newspaper lunch break, reporter Maegan Morrison (10) told me about a website that uses algorithms to create faces. The website is https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/

Every time the page is refreshed, a new face appears. Some faces have obvious glitches and others look like real people.

A few of us in the room decided to do an experiment; we had another staff member, Emily LaPlant (10), access the website. She refreshed the page a few times and then landed on the same face Morrison had on her computer. They refreshed at the exact same time, and five times in a row, they got the same face.

We also reverse image searched the photos, which is dragging the image into the google search bar, and for a while, the same photo came up for everyone.

Morrison and I talked and think maybe the inventors use a base photo from the internet to change and use the algorithms on, and that is why the same photo appears when searched.

Some students think the use of this technology will lead to more theft on the internet.

“This technology might lead to a higher increase in fake IDs and online identity theft. I feel that this technology could cause far more bad things than any good,” Bryson Schmidt (12) said.

The algorithm photos could also lead to more deception on social media.

“I feel this website could affect social media because it could make deception more of an issue than it already is with things like catfishing. People could also make a computer-generated image of a person looking however they wanted with only little flaws that people usually don’t pick up on,” Alexis Bodie (11) said.

This artificial intelligence could also lead to robots (scammers) getting away with more crimes.

“I think this technology could be harmful if bots happen to use them, or if it recreates actual peoples’ faces,” Isaiah Thornburg (10) said.

Artificial intelligence has made many advances throughout the years and this website proves that. If the wrong person were to come across this website, it could cause harm to peoples’ lives.