The Advent of Deepfake

Nick Frohlich
nickfrohlich@gmail.com

In an era where information has become more accessible with each passing day, the increase of misinformation has paralleled this rise. Terms such as fake news have become prevalent and a readily deployed weapon by those who deem any news unfavorable to themselves or their constituency. It has become nearly impossible to distinguish between what is real versus what is not and as technology advances the line between the two continues to blur.

The advent of deepfake technology is catastrophic proof of the maligned nature of misinformation and those who wish to deceive the general public. Deepfake is essentially a broad term for any software that is capable of creating falsified video or audio that is incredibly realistic and believable. The term itself was coined by a Reddit user going by the name "deepfakes" who was able to transpose the likeness of various celebrities into pornographic videos. This ability creates a huge problem not only for the obvious reason of destroying anyone’s credibility and reputation, but the socio-political effects it can have are terrifying.

Deepfake of Nicholas Cage's likeness on Star Trek's Captain Picard from Trekmovie.com

In Belgium, a deepfake video surfaced of President Donald Trump saying, “I had the balls to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement and so should you.” This resulted in a political uproar until it was later discovered the video was a deepfake hoax. There have been numerous other examples of deepfake used against political leaders in recent memory as well and it has become increasingly difficult to spot them.

Another problem this creates is essentially a blanket alibi for those accused of wrongdoing caught on video or audio. Suddenly the accused can cry wolf and given plausible deniability based on the contention that anything they are accused of is simply a deepfake. It also creates a much deeper level of mistrust of the information we receive if essentially anything can be computer generated and fabricated.

Authoritarian governments such as North Korea could easily use this technology to continue to misinform and subjugate their people. The implications of nuclear power using deepfake to incite war gives world leaders justifiable reason to be worried about this technology. While the technology evolves and improves our methods of detecting deepfakes attempts to remain parallel in this advance. There is no doubt this will lead to an all-out technological war where deepfakes and their methods of detection race against one another in a subversive struggle for control.

This technology has no redeeming qualities whatsoever and will become an increasing cancer within the socio-political structures of the world. The amount of havoc it will wreak is still imperceptible in its infancy though it is doubtless the world will suffer for this creation.