Earlier this week on Instagram, Kanye West posted a photo on Instagram of the movie poster for the movie “21 Jump Street”. As a Jewish person myself, I found his caption to be hysterical. It read “Watching Jonah Hill in 21 Jump Street made me like Jewish people again”. This lead to a bunch of memes of people circulating twitter crediting Jonah Hill as the savior of antisemitism, which was also hysterically funny. However, I came across one tweet in which a man wrote a rap of the situation, and then asked an Artificial Intelligence platform to create said rap sung by Kanye West. The results were a little bit terrifying. It sounded exactly like him. From the way his voice sounds, to the way he pauses between certain words in some of his other songs. If the tweet had no caption, and only that audio, I would have assumed it was him with 100% certainty. Below is a link to said tweet:
A deep fake is when a computer program or artificial intelligence is used to create an image or video of something that never actually happened. This can be done with pictures, videos, or as previously mentioned audio recordings. Deep fakes have been used in the past for various reasons, but one of the most common uses is to create fake news. In many instances they have been used to create fake videos or audio recordings of politicians saying something they never actually said. They can used as a means to sway public opinion on important leaders. Deep fakes have been around for quite some time, however it seems now they are much easier to create.
Previously, the technology required to make these sophisticated deep fakes was much more complex. For example CGI being used to de-age characters in movies and TV, such as in the popular Star Wars TV Series the Mandalorian. In the show, a young Mark Hamill returns to the screen as Luke Skywalker looking the same as he did in 1983.
Back in 2018, Peter Jackson diligently worked on restoring and adding color to footage from World War I to produce “They Shall Not Grow Old”. This film provided viewers of the 21st century with a more immersive experience of the Great War than ever before. However, reenactments and processing of historical footage can be quite costly and time-intensive. It took obscene amounts of money, time and effort to produce these realistic looking copies. However, the emergence of AI deepfake technology has made it more accessible and affordable to animate old photographs or generate realistic fake videos without much hassle.
So what happens when the majority of the population gains access to this type of cheap, easy to use deepfake technology? One of the dangers of deep fakes is that they can be used to spread misinformation and propaganda. If people believe that a video or picture is real, they may be more likely to believe what is being said or portrayed. This can have serious consequences, especially in politics or during times of crisis.
What happens when someone creates doctored footage of the January 6th incident in order to incite political tensions? What happens when someone creates fake audio recordings of the President? Or when someone creates fake footage of a historical event in order to change the way people perceive history? Whether it gets to this point may be hypothetical, but we are definitely already seeing small examples of it in use.
Maybe the fact checker tweets claiming things are false will help, but a large portion of the population believes the first thing they see on the internet. I get a text from my grandparents bi-weekly of a satirical tweet taken the wrong way that finally made its way to the conservative side of Facebook. It usually takes me 20 minutes to explain to them the context of the joke they aren’t getting, and why the idiot who took it seriously and reposted it to Facebook acting like its real, is in fact an idiot. Its absurd what some people who are unfamiliar with the technology are willing to believe because they don’t bother searching for the truth.
As deep fake technology becomes more advanced, it is important that people are aware of the dangers. It is important to always question the validity of a video or picture before believing it to be true. It is also important for technology companies to develop ways to detect and prevent deep fakes from being created and spread.
Deep fakes are a growing concern in today’s world. They have the potential to spread misinformation, ruin people’s lives, and have serious consequences. As technology continues to advance, it is important for people to be aware of the dangers and for technology companies to develop ways to prevent deep fakes from being created and spread.