As news media increasingly gets digitized, some governments, organizations and people with a vested interest are using advanced Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning techniques to develop and discriminate fake news. Advances in fake news are also being discussed under the umbrella of deepfake.
A recent Guardian article describes the phenomenon with recent examples of deepfake: “Have you seen Barack Obama call Donald Trump a “complete dipshit”, or Mark Zuckerberg brag about having “total control of billions of people’s stolen data”, or witnessed Jon Snow’s moving apology for the dismal ending to Game of Thrones? Answer yes and you’ve seen a deepfake.”
Taking this issue head on, the British broadcaster, Channel 4 broadcast a four-minute deepfake version of the Queen Elizabeth II ‘s “alternative Christmas day message” this year. In the message, the deepfake Queen issued a “stark warning” about the rapid spread of fake news and disinformation in a digital age. The video was enhanced using artificial intelligence technology.
The deepfake Queen, voiced by the actor Debra Stephenson, warned viewers to question “whether what we see and hear is always what it seems.” The Queen can also be seen performing a dance routine from social media platform TikTok.
Channel 4 annually accompanies the Queen’s traditional speech with an “alternative Christmas message.” This alternative message has been aired since 1993 and has long attracted controversy. Previous people to have delivered the alternative speech include Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former president of Iran. Other notable invitees include US whistleblower Edward Snowden, Jesse Jackson and the children who survived the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire.
Channel 4 Director of Programes Ian Katz said in a statement “Deepfake technology is the frightening new frontier in the battle between misinformation and truth.” Twitter feed erupted following Channel 4’s announcement on this deepfak Queen’s speech, and as expected attracted controversy and strong comments
An alternative message for a very alternative year. Watch on Christmas Day, 3:25pm. #AltXmas pic.twitter.com/L0qYL8jncI
— Channel 4 (@Channel4) December 23, 2020
More about deepfake
According to an MIT report,
A deepfake refers to a specific kind of synthetic media where a person in an image or video is swapped with another person’s likeness. The term “deepfake” was first coined in late 2017 by a Reddit user of the same name.
Why It Matters: Deepfakes can be used to manipulate and threaten individuals and corporations. But with a better understanding of the technology, executives can take steps to protect themselves and their companies.
Popular Mechanics: Deepfakes Are Amazing. They’re Also Terrifying for Our Future.
Why Are Deepfakes Dangerous?
If we forget the fact that there are over 30 nations actively engaged in cyberwar at any time, then the biggest concern with deepfakes might be things like the ill-conceived website Deepnudes, where celebrity faces and the faces of ordinary women could be superimposed on pornographic video content.Deepnudes’ founder eventually canceled the site’s launch, fearing “the probability that people will misuse it is too high.” Well, what else would people do with fake pornography content?