The spread of digital technologies has changed and transformed almost everything around us. Many things have been made possible, and many things have been improved upon. But these new technologies also bring with them new challenges. Something that is becoming increasingly concerning is deepfakes.
Deepfakes, also called synthetic media, are video, images and audio recordings which have been created using AI. It can for example be used to replace one person in a video with another. With enough video clips and photos of a person, the AI learns their likeness and can use that information when creating new content. In other words – hyper realistic fake content can be used to make it appear as if someone has said something when they never did.
While the ability to alter digital content is not new and has been around for a long time, the exponential development of digital technologies is facilitating the quickly improving quality of the deepfakes. What makes deepfake technology significant is both the hyper realism and the broader access – as the technology becomes more and more accessible virtually anyone will be able to make use of it to further their own agenda.
Of course, the technology itself is neutral and the full potential of deepfakes is still to be discovered as it continues to develop. There are doubtlessly going to be both good and bad applications. A less insidious one could be for communication or entertainment purposes. A news broadcast could be made by a deepfake, or an actor could lend their visage to new projects without having to spend any time on filming.
That said, today, there already exist issues surrounding misinformation. The proliferation of deepfakes could potentially exacerbate these and erode the trust we have in our news providers. This technology could bring propaganda and election interference to completely new levels and even fuel the fires of conspiracy theories.
Sources:
CNN Business. (n.d.) When seeing is no longer believing: Inside the Pentagon’s race against deep fake videos. Available online: https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2019/01/business/pentagons-race-against-deepfakes/
Johnson, D. (2022) What is a deepfake: Everything you need to know about the AI-powered fake media, Business Insider. Available online: https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/what-is-deepfake?international=true&r=US&IR=T
Whitaker, B. (2022) Synthetic Media: How deep fakes could soon change our world, CBS News. Available online: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/deepfake-artificial-intelligence-60-minutes-2022-07-31/
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