Deepfakes: Fake Videos Need Real Remedy

Your friend tells you they saw a video of you on social media. You look it up. The person in that video looks like you. That person even sounds like you. To make matters worse the video shows this counterfeit version of you doing something incredibly embarrassing. You have never done what the video is portraying and yet here it is online forever. You have just been victimized by a deepfake.

What is a Deepfake?

Deepfakes (short for 'deep learning' and 'fake'1) use AIs trained in audio and video synthesis to manufacture fake videos. The AI system itself is based on adversarial generative learning.2 These AIs are able to learn how a face moves from a bank of photos that a user inputs. It then superimposes that face onto the body of someone else in an unrelated video.

This technology is still somewhat young, but it is getting more accessible to the general public and better at creating convincing videos.3 It can be used for innocuous purposes like inserting one's self into one's favourite movie,4 or for poking harmless fun at political figures.5 However, this technology also has a dark side.

Malicious Uses

Revenge Porn:

Revenge porn is the publication of sexually explicit videos of another person intending to degrade or humiliate that person. Before deepfake technology, only those who had made a sex tape or provided someone with revealing photos were at risk. With deepfake technology all that is required is access to someone's online photos.

Fake News:

Deepfakes can be used for political disinformation. Consider the doctored video of Nancy Pelosi, an American politician, which was slowed down to make her appear drunk.6 The story went viral before it was ultimately revealed as fake. That video was not a deepfake, however it highlights the fact that the use of...