Thanks to AI, the future of 'fake news' may be easily-faked video

Source: NBC News | February 7, 2018 | Julian Sanchez

Newly-accessible ‘deepfake’ videos might be hard to discern, and harder for news organizations to totally ignore.

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As the technology news site Motherboard reported late last month, the latest merger of high tech and low urges is a phenomenon dubbed “deepfakes.” Using free, readily available software, the everyday horndog can now swap the faces of celebrities — or anyone else — into pornographic videos. While once such fakery would have required advanced video editing skills, the FakeApp, designed for the convenience of deepfake aficionados, makes use of machine learning algorithms to produce what is, in effect, a video editing Artificial Intelligence.

The upshot is that shoehorning an onscreen — or real life — crush into an ersatz but highly convincing porn no longer requires a serious technical background.

That ought to be disturbing enough: Most of us would rather not contemplate the prospect of discovering we’ve been unwillingly cast in an obscene video that’s gone viral online, even if it’s known to be a fake. (Some major porn sites are now barring the phony videos, though plenty remain in circulation.)

But perhaps even more unsettling should be the inevitable application of this free-to-download tech to politics and journalism. Combined with software like Adobe Voco, which can create a pitch-perfect virtual simulation of anyone’s voice based on a short audio sample, you’ve got a recipe for realistic viral “fake news” fodder that the average prankster can manufacture in an afternoon.

Just imagine the October Surprise potential: The candidate caught cavorting with prostitutes, spewing racial epithets, outlining a plan to round up Lutherans for secret medical experiments! Even the most brazen political campaign might fear the damage of such a forgery being traced back to its own doorstep — but when the software to pull it off is available to anyone with a broadband connection, they likely won’t have to.

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Technology has made it easier to fake; the economics of the internet make it increasingly likely that the fakes become news. And the inevitable blunders will confirm diminishing public trust in professional news media — the effect of which to date, ironically, has been to drive many viewers and readers into the arms of outlets with even fewer journalistic scruples.

Eventually, of course, both news producers and news consumers will adapt to the new reality, with some combination of professional protocols and personal skepticism. But the chaotic period of fumbling toward a new equilibrium promises to be a wild ride.

 

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