In the last years, a lot of attention got dragged by the developing technology of neural networks. This technology found its uses in many areas. For instance, in the last year Google team managed to, for the first time in programming histoy, create a program, based on neural network technology, that could reliably beat anyone in a game of Go. Or applications that can transform you face to being older, younger, or even another gender. Or a cancer recognition software. The list of potential uses for neural networks seems endless. However, like everything in life, the coin has a dark side too.
Consider the following video
as can be seen, neural network can be used with malicious intents. Currently, we already live in a constant state of information wars – both within and between countries. And, as can be seen from the video, if we add to the mix fake news videos that are hard to distinguish from reality, the result can be devastating. Such fake news can be used, for example, to manipulate stock markets, create political tensions, mess with peoples minds, and so on. Sounds scary, doesn’t it?
For example, lets remember this news article from 23 April 2013.
https://www.cnbc.com/id/100646197
In the article, the fake news about an explosion in White House is discussed. The fake news itself looked just as a sentence on twitter. Yet, it managed to create short but dramatic effect on stock market. And now, just imagine for a second, what would happen if it wasn’t just a piece of text, but an actual video, created with the use of neural networks, of Obama being actually exploded. The shock would be much more severe, and during that shock a lot of malicious people who created the hoax can get illegally richer. You can think of it as a gas grenade explosion, that creates a distraction, during which the ninja does his dirty job.
Or perhaps the neural network technology will never be capable of creating such fake news videos that will look real. We will see.
