Deepfake

Deepfake : The rise of the new infodemic wave

Misinformation on social media is not a new problem, but we may never have felt its impact so strongly as in 2020, but the misinformation maybe is not the only threat that we face, deepfake technology could be the next social Media pandemic.

Since first appearing in 2018, deepfake technology has evolved from hobbyist experimentation on Youtube and Reddit to an effective and potentially dangerous tool.

Novel digital technologies make it increasingly difficult to distinguish between real and fake media. One of the most recent developments contributing to the problem is the emergence of deepfakes which are hyper-realistic videos that apply artificial intelligence (AI) to depict someone say and do things that never happened (Like Barak Obama Video). Coupled with the reach and speed of social media, convincing deepfakes can quickly reach millions of people and have negative impacts on our society.

What Makes Deepfakes Special?

Deepfake technology isn't the only kind that can swap faces in videos. In fact, the VFX (visual effects) and Video Games industry has been doing this for decades. But before deepfakes, the capability was limited to deep-pocketed movie studios with access to plentiful technical resources.

Deepfakes have democratized the capability to swap faces in videos. The technology is now available to anyone who has a computer with a decent processor and strong graphics card or can spend a few hundred Dinars to rent cloud computing and GPU resources.

What are the Dangers of Deepfake Technology?

For now, the innovative technology of deepfake videos makes them fascinating and fun to watch. But lurking beneath the surface of this seemingly amusing technology is a danger that could get out of hand.

Deepfake technology is evolving to a point where it will most likely be difficult to tell fake videos apart from real ones. This could have disastrous consequences, especially for public figures and celebrities. Careers and lives may be compromised and even ruined outright by malicious deepfakes. People with ornery intentions could use these to impersonate people and exploit their friends, families, and colleagues. They can even use fake videos of world leaders to start international incidents and even wars.

Deepfakes are here to stay specially with the social Media Mass users. Managing disinformation and protecting the public will be more challenging than ever as artificial intelligence gets more powerful. We are part of a growing research community that is taking on this threat, in which detection is just the first step.

Hamdi Hached

Project Coordinator – Media Project

Sources :

+ The Emergence of Deepfake Technology: A Review – Mike Wesetrland

+ Techslang .com : what is Deepfaketechnology .

+ Advances.sciencemag.org : Evaluating the fake news problem at the scale of the information ecosystem.

+ Scientificamerican.com: Deepfakes and the New AI-Generated Fake Media Creation-Detection Arms Race.