It’s all fun and games... until someone gets hurt

Trish Tierney (tt318700@ohio.edu)

Fakes are fun, right? I mean we cheer when our favorite quarterback fakes a pass to trick a defender. Or, we laugh when we fake someone out with a joke or trick, don’t we? It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt. We learned that as children.

When the fake goes too far…

In our current society, fakes are far different than the pranks we did as children or the fakes we see in sports. The term deepfakes is now present and it is changing the way we view and believe videos and images. What exactly is a deepfake? Charlotte Walsh, Medill News Service explains:

“The term “deepfake” refers to videos that have used artificial intelligence techniques to combine and superimpose multiple images or videos onto source material. The process can be used to make it look as if people did or said things they did not. The most widely reported instances of deepfakes include celebrity pornography videos like Roper’s or video manipulations of politicians.”

Photo Credit: Business Insider

 

Artificial Intelligence used in the wrong way

Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) can lead to huge advances in technology and our daily lives, but using it in this way just feels wrong. We may giggle or laugh at some or even wonder how anyone would believe it is true. The fact is that it can be extremely harmful to those it misrepresents. From a deepfake video of two people in a sexual liason, with those other than their spouses to a fake missile scare, the possibilities seem endless and frightening.

Reputational risks with each click of a video

From Robert Chesney and Danielle Citron at Lawfare:

“Fueled by artificial intelligence, digital impersonation is on the rise. Machine-learning algorithms (often neural networks) combined with facial-mapping software enable the cheap and easy fabrication of content that hijacks one’s identity—voice, face, body. Deep fake technology inserts individuals’ faces into videos without their permission. The result is “believable videos of people doing and saying things they never did.”

Reputations are hard to build and even harder, if not impossible, to regain.

No more clicks

How do we stop deepfakes? Exellent question thanks for asking. In my opinion, we need to take action. By taking action I do not mean searching the internet to watch deepfakes. Stop clicking on those photos or stories! Maybe if we stop giving them our clicks and start writing and calling our elected officials we can form a movement to govern these harmful practices. If we do not take action, I can only imagine how far they will go. AI will only get better in the future and the limits are endless for the harm that can be caused by these fakes.