Opinion | This Video May Not Be Real What should we really be worried about when it comes to “deepfakes”? An expert in online manipulation explains. Aug. 14, 2019 What should we really be worried about when in comes to “deepfakes”? An expert in online manipulation explains. Credit Credit The New York Times By Claire Wardle Video by Leah Varjacques and Taige Jensen In the video Op-Ed above, Claire Wardle responds to growing alarm around “deepfakes” — seemingly realistic videos generated by artificial intelligence. First seen on Reddit with pornographic videos doctored to feature the faces of female celebrities, deepfakes were made popular in 2018 by a fake public service announcement featuring former President Barack Obama. Words and faces can now be almost seamlessly superimposed. The result: We can no longer trust our eyes. In June, the House Intelligence Committee convened a hearingon the threat deepfakes pose to national security. And platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are contemplating whether, and how, to address this new disinformation format. It’s a conversation gaining urgency in the lead-up to the 2020 election. Yet deepfakes are no more scary than their predecessors, “shallowfakes,” which use far more accessible editing tools to slow down, speed up, omit or otherwise manipulate context. The real danger of fakes — deep or shallow — is that their very existence creates a world in which almost everything can be dismissed as false. Claire Wardle (@cward1e) is executive director of First Draft, a nonprofit focused on research and practice to address misinformation and disinformation. https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/w...ttle-to-fight-deepfake-technology-66272325617
First is the ability to tell fake from real. It’s still early and the fake video aren’t good enough to fool most causal watcher, so definitely not going to fool pro. But it will get there and soon. Reliant on expert isn’t enough - there simply isn’t enough of them and would people even trust them. This ability should be built into the video itself. Video will need to be signed and authenticated. Unfortunately we are a long way away from that but I think that is the necessary first step. It’s not a technology problem but an equipment readiness and deployment problem —- government and professional video should get their first, then consumer.
First, you have way too much faith in the casual watcher. I'd say we can be easily fooled with current-day tools. Second, I think the harder problem to combat than the technical issues (which are impossible anyway -- whatever authentication tool you invent will eventually be counterfeited) is the social engineering side of it. The mere existence of deep fake technology can put people's confirmation bias into hyperdrive. If a video undermines your preconceived notions, you can discount it by saying it was probably faked or manipulated. If a video instead supports your preconceived notions, you can discount allegations that it was faked or manipulated by claiming it looks authentic to you. For a propagandist, all he needs to do is provide plausible deniability. We already see it now with Trumpers disregarding most MSM (and liberals denigrating Fox News) as fake news. Nobody is going to be able to led by the facts (if ever they were); people will believe what they want to believe and who they want to believe.
People will believe what they want to believe, that is the problem, that is especially true with many Trump supporters.
I guess I do have too much faith... I do agree the current capability combined with professional editor can make fake video hard to detect for causal viewers. On the technical side... I don't agree. I define technical solution as the know how. We know how to sign and authenticate. Not new technology. It is absolute secure also. Not going to go into security here, but it's not the technology that is the problem. The blocks isn't the technology, it's that no one ever thought of signing video to make sure it's authentic. It just wasn't a problem until now. Getting that technology into the ecosystem of video production and distribution is the block - it will take time, maybe a long time. On the challenge of fake video - no question about seriousness of this. In an era of up is down, left is right, fake is real, real is fake, this is a serious issue that needs to be solved. It's not going to come from this admin. An admin that consider technology (you know, Yang), would absolutely tackle it head on.
That's why we need the video to have authenticating property so we aren't reliant on human interpretation. Once we get there, there will be people that is crazy.. and believe in things like conspiracy theories and wouldn't trust the system. Nothing you can do about them.
There's a YouTube channel called "ctrl shift face" where he swaps out faces from various films and TV and it is pretty impressive. Here's one with Bill Hader... until Bill Hader is suddently Tom Cruse or Seth Rogen. Its impressive to me how subtle the transitions are. And this is just one dude in his basement doing YouTube videos for fun. What happens when you get a dedicated group of professional political operatives with lots of experience? Especially in the era of Twitter where nobody has any time to fact check anymore.
