In short, deepfakes come from using artificial intelligence to augment a video or audio clip by using programming to replace the likeness of one person with that of someone else in a different video. The goal of deepfakes is to make it look like someone said or did something they never did. They are showing up everywhere and consistently getting better.
The term “deep” in the name itself refers to a concept called deep learning algorithms – a form of artificial intelligence which supports this cyber-crime. These deep learning algorithms teach themselves how to come up with solutions to a problem given large sets of data. In terms of doctoring videos and audio, this large data repository contains existing videos/images/audios from one source and uses technology to compose an idea of what the person looks like from different angles and uses this “learning” to create a realistic map of the person intended for the target video.
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Deepfake technology has both pros and cons in its uses, which I’ll get into now. Deepfakes can be used in cinema and gaming to create realistic recreations of faces, voices etc. This would be very appealing to a sports game where the faces of professional players look virtually identical to the real person. An entire movie could be created around Muhammad Ali with a realistic looking character and a repertoire of his mannerisms at every stage of his life desired for filming. Imagine the pull of audience who love certain iconic figures to be able to see an amazing example of their life. One of the most iconic recreations of a famous figure was with Michael Jackson’s hologram performing at the Billboard Music Awards in 2014.
Deepfake technology can also be used in video games to allow the characters to say things in real time, rather than relying on a set script of programmed phrases. Similarly, deepfakes could create an accurate representation of a younger actor in a movie. For example, if there is a flashback in the movie, instead of using another actor that looks like the young character, deepfake technology could be used instead.
On the other hand, deepfake technology could be used in a negative way and pose a threat to our society, political system, and business. There are large concerns that this technology can be used to create fake and misleading news to spread disinformation, which is already growing around the globe. A good example would be using it to make a politician look like they said something when in reality they never made such a comment. The Belgian Socialist party did this with Donald Trump where they used deepfakes technology while he was president to make it appear that he said he “had the balls to pull the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement.”
We, as humans, should care because deepfakes can make us question the nature of our reality. What we see or hear may not match up to what is real. When people constantly consume Internet content that can ultimately influence small (or large!) decisions, it’s vital that the true character and intentions are brought to light among all else. Governments around the world are considering the negative implications of this technology and debating how it could be regulated.
Hey Joseph! This is such an interesting blog post. The rise of deepfakes is something to be very cautious about, because it could easily ruin one’s reputation. Also, it’s scary to think that deepfakes will provide and spread false information, which will make people think it’s from the “non deepfake” person.
I have never thought about using deepfake as a way to create biographies. I think that is a fascinating thought and could open a whole market. I would love to watch a movie about any of my childhood heroes, that would be so neat.
Hey Joseph, I’m really glad you made a post about this stuff! I’ve seen the rise of deep fake technology, and I totally agree with you about its potential pros and cons. While it can be very helpful in terms of movies, games, and other forms of entertainment, I’m sure it will be used negatively just as much. With how accessible the internet is these days, I worry about the widespread misinformation that can come from this. Unfortunately, many people believe what they see on the internet at first glance, without conducting any of their own research first. Because of this, I’m worried that this will be used in a big way politically. I’m sure as the technology advances for this, we will start becoming more aware and conscious of it, along with hopefully creating laws to protect people it may harm.
I remember seeing a lot of deepfakes coming out around the time of the 2020 election time and it was funny to see. I do see how a lot of older people who are less technologically inclined could easily be swindled by these type of things. I also see these type of things becoming a problem for legal reasons.
Hey Joseph, really great blog to read this week! I have seen deep faking a lot recently on social media and its crazy how realistic it is. Personally, I think it is scary what it can do and the effects it can cause. I feel like it will lead to a lot of misinformation and lawsuits to come. Very relevant most this week!
I’ve seen videos where Trump, Biden, and Obama are all interacting with each other in a game of Overwatch 2 or playing some GTAV. The content was made for humor purposes but it’s easy to see where the use of this technology could be harmful. I agree that it poses a significant threat to our political system and society overall. I believe any AI generation should come with watermarks to prevent any misinformation as there are plenty of gullible people out there.
If you have ever watched the YouTuber Mike Boyd he does videos on learning new skills as fast as he can. He tried to learn how to do deep fakes and showed the process which I thought was pretty cool if you want to go watch it. Apparently, it is a lot harder than you think it would be, but with the right inputs and high-quality pictures of both humans, you can put anybody’s face on yourself or vice versa which is super funny.
This is honestly so scary to me. There is already so much false information online and the fact that I didn’t know about deepfakes until this year makes me question everything I’ve ever seen on the internet. While I’m sure it would be cool to implement into the movie and gaming industries, I feel like the negative effects outweigh the good. Most people don’t stop to consider the accuracy of every video, photo, or article they see online so I could see this becoming a defamation problem for celebrities and public figures. Once someone makes a video of you doing or saying something you never did, I bet it’s really hard to convince people that it was fake.
Joseph, I really enjoyed reading your post! I think there are definitely benefits to deepfakes, but I think it is crucial to have more regulations around them. I think in the future, there will be more copyright/regulation laws and ways for important/popular figures (celebrities, presidents, etc.) to trademark their voice and face. It will be interesting to see how this situation develops in the upcoming years. Overall, I really enjoyed reading your post!
In my opinion, deepfakes can either be extremely useful and funny, but they can also be extremely dangerous to the general public and celebrities, political figures, etc. A lot of people use deepfakes to create misinformation and defamation, which has extensive negative impacts. I can see how this can definitely misinform older generation who are less tech-savvy than others. It absolutely has its pros and cons.
Hey Joseph, super interesting blog post. I’ve known about deepfake technology but have only thought about the negative attributes it would bring to society. I have never thought about the positives, like enhancing video games or creating movies without having to hire actors. Super interesting stuff and I am excited what is to come out of this technology.
I bet there will be a counter-innovation to deepfake to root out its negativities. I was listening to a podcast about W3 and how we are still in the curation and creation stage of it. We are deciding what we want it to look like and how we want it to impact our lives….We are intuitive and aware enough as a species to preemptively combat the theses less attractive features.
Hey Joseph, this was a great blog post. I think we briefly covered deep faketech in class and some were fond of the idea while others weren’t. I would say that the cons of the technology outweigh the pros as political figures have a huge presence in our society today and anything said will have some type of domino effect so we need to make sure it’s all 100% true. I wonder how deep fake will fare in the coming future, what will be its primary usability?