During Hurricane Melissa’s fiendish onslaught on Jamaica, those of us who were off-island depended on local and international news, as well as recordings posted on social media for updates. After I lost connectivity with my family I was glued to my phone screen to remain abreast of the impending storm and its eventual b
rutal battering of parts of my home country. If witnessing Melissa’s ravaging from a distanced position was so heart-rending, I can only imagine the profound fear that coursed through the minds of the people who directly experienced the hurricane’s devastating impact.

My hope for Jamaica’s strength to withstand ruthless Melissa was at times destabilised because of expressions international news reporters used to suggest that the hurricane would “wipe out” the island. What made my wavering hope worse were the false artificial intelligence (AI)-generated pictures and videos that circulated.

NEGATIVE IMPACT OF FAKE IMAGES

For days, as I unrelentingly searched online to view footage, I was bombarded with fake accounts of what was occurring. Some of the visuals showed destruction of communities before the hurricane made landfall and others exaggerated impacts.

If the creators of the false images aimed to worsen individuals’ already heightened anxieties caused by Melissa’s unconscionable promise of peril, you succeeded. Your sinister determination to victimise people with palpable apprehension is unpardonable. Individuals were left to battle your diabolical insensitivity and reckless use of AI to stir turbulent unease.

Hence, along with having to battle the residing fears Melissa inflicted, we had to be needlessly concerned with examining images to ensure their authenticity. This requirement was an unwelcomed antagonistic and extremely frustrating distraction. I absolutely abhor the irresponsible, thoughtless. and wicked use of AI to further traumatise us.

CLOSELY EXAMINE AI GENERATED IMAGES

With the increased sharing of AI generated images viewers have a responsibility to examine them before deciding to share. Automaticity and impulsivity must be countered by the activation of keen eyes or use of other AI tools to scan images.

Some AI-generated images have characters with distorted body parts, inconsistent lighting and shadows, unrealistic textures, background anomalies, objects that defy the law of physics, and images that look too perfect/cinematic. In addition, we should check the sources for the images and conduct
Google searches. Be sceptical if the images only appear in a few places or on questionable sites. We must be cautious against being accomplices in the spread of fictitious visuals.

THE VALUE OF RESILIENCE AND COMMUNITY

The malicious AI users and murderous Hurricane Melissa seemed to have found pleasure in Jamaica’s plight. However, what is undeniably real is the formidability of a country that has already commenced the repair process. It is heartening to watch the interviews with citizens who express their appreciation for the one irreplaceable thing — life. Furthermore, the outpouring of love, concern and humanitarian aids are helping to preserve optimism and mend broken hearts and spirits.

The road to full restoration may be long, but with the commitment of Jamaicans, near and far, we can rebuild our “likkle, but tallawah” country. Melissa may have succeeded in wreaking havoc, but she did not destroy the people’s collective resilience. Let us remain a unified force because out of many, we are one people.

Ardene Virtue

Ardene Virtue has served Jamaica’s education system for the past 21 years in the capacities of teacher of English, senior lecturer and acting quality assurance officer. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or ardene.virtue@gmail.com.