Deepfakes - The Good & The Bad

Olivia Gauding

og198415@ohio.edu 

 

 

Technology

There is a constant cycle of new developments and advancements in technology. In my lifetime, there have been huge changes in the way the public uses technology. On January 2, 2020 the Institute of Economic Affairs published an article about the twenty biggest technological advancements in the past twenty years. This article was written by Alexander C. R. Hammond. 

One of the advancements from the past twenty years Hammond listed, was the smartphone. A mobile phone has been around for longer than twenty years. However, in the past twenty years there have been major advancements. For example, not only does the majority of the public have a mobile phone, but most are touch screens with the capability to take pictures, edit pictures, make video calls, navigate directions, order food, mobile deposit checks, and so on and so forth. 

Deepfakes

With the constant development and advancement of technology, there have been startling discoveries made. One of those discoveries is that people are now able to make fake images and videos of other people. This is typically done to celebrities and those in politics, but can also be done to everyday people. According to The Guardian, deep fakes are images or videos made of fake events.

Picture source: The Guardian

Can they be good?

Deepfakes can bring good into someone’s life! Everyone loves a good laugh. With deepfakes, people are able to put themselves into their favorite movies or even dance like the professionals. These deepfakes provide humor.

Another way deepfakes can bring good into someone's life is through CereProc. CereProc has developed text-to-speech technology that provides digital voices for people that have lost their voice. 

With the good comes the bad

With the developments and advancements in technology, it can be extremely difficult to spot a deepfake. Bloomberg Quicktake stated in their YouTube video, “In a world where fakes are easy to create - authenticity also becomes easier to deny.” Which explains one of the negative impacts deepfakes have.

Because of how easy deepfakes can be to create and how hard they can be to detect, trust is loss. This can lead to doubts about real events that have taken place and can create confusion in society. 

Research

The rise of developments and advancements in technology has made it seem impossible to know who and what to trust. We can get lost in our confusion and decide it may be better to not trust anything we see. However, this does not have to be the case. If we all take the time to research articles, images, and videos we see and check their resources, we can know whether or not to trust them.