Can You Trust What You See? A New Study Needs Your Eyes
My Medium.com readership has grown to 140,000 followers. Each one of you represents something I deeply value: a mind that refuses to accept easy answers.
Today, I’m inviting you to participate in a new academic study. I am collaborating with Prof. Gershon Tenenbaum, Prof. Nancy Cooke, and Dr. Omer Eldadi on research examining how people evaluate digital media content — the images and videos we encounter every day.
Over the past four months, various YouTube channels used AI to generate videos of me, by imitating my image and my voice to spread misinformation with content that I do not approve of. One of the channels accumulated millions of views before it was identified and removed. Many people had not noticed that the videos were fabricated. That experience changed how I think about what we see and what we trust.
Take the survey (here)
https://idc.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1ReVxdIt6Jr9BOu
The world is changing faster than our eyes can keep up. This study asks something simple: when you look at images and watch short videos, what are your impressions? There are no trick questions and no right or wrong answers. We want to understand how people like you — thoughtful, scientifically engaged individuals — experience visual content in today’s media environment.
Your participation takes of order 10 minutes. The survey is completely anonymous, and the results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and shared here with all of you.
In science, we follow the evidence wherever it leads. In this study, you are the evidence. Your perception, your judgment, your instinct — that is what we are measuring.
Four months ago, thousands of you participated in our study on beliefs about extraterrestrial intelligence. Your willingness to contribute to real research is what makes this community extraordinary.
Take the survey (here)
https://idc.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1ReVxdIt6Jr9BOu
I hope you will lend us your eyes once more.
With gratitude,
Avi Loeb
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Avi Loeb is the head of the Galileo Project, founding director of Harvard University’s — Black Hole Initiative, director of the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and the former chair of the astronomy department at Harvard University (2011–2020). He is a former member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and a former chair of the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the National Academies. He is the bestselling author of “Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth” and a co-author of the textbook “Life in the Cosmos”, both published in 2021. The paperback edition of his new book, titled “Interstellar”, was published in August 2024.
Professional website:
https://lweb.cfa.harvard.edu/~loeb/
Social media:
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfessorAviLoeb
https://open.spotify.com/show/1zhndXkvSY2b8FdjspFpCd
https://x.com/ProfAviLoeb
