Advances in generative AI (GenAI) have raised concerns about detecting and discerning AI-generated content from human-generated content. Most existing literature assumes a paradigm where 'expert' organized disinformation creators and flawed AI models deceive 'ordinary' users. Based on longitudinal ethnographic research with misinformation creators and consumers between 2022-2023, we instead find that GenAI supports bricolage work, where non-experts increasingly use GenAI to remix, repackage, and (re)produce content to meet their personal needs and desires. This research yielded four key findings: First, participants primarily used GenAI for creation, rather than truth-seeking. Second, a spreading 'influencer millionaire' narrative drove participants to become content creators, using GenAI as a productivity tool to generate a volume of (often misinformative) content. Third, GenAI lowered the barrier to entry for content creation across modalities, enticing consumers to become creators and significantly increasing existing creators' output. Finally, participants used Gen AI to learn and deploy marketing tactics to expand engagement and monetize their content. We argue for shifting analysis from the public as consumers of AI content to bricoleurs who use GenAI creatively, often without a detailed understanding of its underlying technology. We analyze how these understudied emergent uses of GenAI produce new or accelerated misinformation harms, and their implications for AI products, platforms and policies.

翻译：生成式人工智能（GenAI）的进展引发了人们对检测和区分AI生成内容与人类生成内容的担忧。现有文献大多假设一种范式，即“专家”组织的虚假信息创作者和有缺陷的AI模型欺骗“普通”用户。基于2022年至2023年间对虚假信息创作者和消费者进行的纵向人种志研究，我们发现，GenAI实际上支持一种拼装式工作，即非专业人士越来越多地使用GenAI来重新混合、重新包装和（再）生产内容，以满足其个人需求和欲望。本研究得出四个关键发现：首先，参与者主要将GenAI用于内容创作，而非寻求真相。其次，一种广为流传的“网红致富”叙事驱使参与者成为内容创作者，他们将GenAI作为一种生产力工具，以生成大量（通常是虚假的）内容。第三，GenAI降低了跨模态内容创作的门槛，吸引消费者转变为创作者，并显著提高了现有创作者的产出。最后，参与者利用GenAI学习并部署营销策略，以扩大参与度并将其内容货币化。我们主张将分析视角从公众作为AI内容的消费者，转向作为创造性使用GenAI的“拼装者”——他们通常并不详细了解其底层技术。我们分析了这些未被充分研究的GenAI新兴用途如何产生新的或加剧的虚假信息危害，及其对AI产品、平台和政策的影响。