By Tharin Pillay

On June 18, AI image-generation company Midjourney released a tool that lets users create short video clips using their own images as a template. Days later, Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian posted on X about how he used the tech to animate a photo of his late mother, which shows him as a child wrapped in her embrace.

Of course, people are capable of distorting their memories without technological assistance. “My grandfather used to yell at my grandmother all the time, but after he died, he was the most wonderful man in the world,” recalls Elizabeth Loftus, a professor of psychology and law and pioneer in memory research. And it’s well-established that tools like Photoshop and doctored videos affect what people remember about the past.

But AI changes the ease and extent to which content can be altered. A recent study that Loftus conducted with the MIT Media Lab found that exposure to even a single AI-edited visual affected people’s memory of the original. Participants “reported high levels of confidence in their false memories,” with younger people proving particularly susceptible.

The researchers also found that while this technology could have beneficial uses, such as reframing traumatic memories or enhancing self-esteem, there is a considerable risk of creating false memories in high-stakes contexts like courtrooms, and using the technology to spread misinformation.