Deepfakes

According to reports from Engadget and Tom’s Hardware, a livestream from last week featuring a deepfake version of NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang drew more viewers than the company’s real event. Continue Reading →

Today, just seven years after the term deepfake was coined, absolutely anyone who is interested in making a photorealistic image or video of anything has the ability to do so at no (or very low) cost, in real (or very near-real) time. Continue Reading →

I'm not sure if George Lucas was prescient (or just lucky) when he wrote C-3PO's famous self-introduction: "I am C-3PO, human/cyborg relations." It always announced itself as a purpose-built artificial life form. Ethics? Protocol? Law? Truth in labeling? Requirement? We won't need to recognize the future; it's already here. Continue Reading →

Mark Matlock, the Reform UK candidate for Clapham and Brixton Hill, recently faced accusations of being an AI-generated bot. The specifics of this case are silly. Mr. Matlock overly-photoshopped one of his campaign ads and then fell victim to pneumonia. In the process, he sparked an epidemic of deepfake-itus, which sparked a debate about the authenticity of candidates in the generative era (he did not win the seat, BTW). Let's ask some more interesting questions. Could an AI run for office? If elected, could it serve? Continue Reading →

If you're looking for professionally curated lists of the best dressed stars, Vogue, Vanity Fair, or the New York Times have awesome pictorials. Unsurprisingly, these traditional sources had a bit of competition from deepfakes this year, and several hyper-realistic deepfake images of celebrities like Katy Perry and Rihanna garnered millions of views. Continue Reading →

In a disturbing exploitation of AI, former Pikesville High School athletic director Dazhon Darien was arrested for allegedly impersonating the school's principal using AI voice synthesis to disseminate false racist and antisemitic statements. The synthetic audio, widely shared on social media, inaccurately portrayed the principal expressing derogatory views about Black students and the Jewish community, triggering widespread condemnation and significant disruptions at the school. Continue Reading →

Operators of Instagram accounts for AI-generated influencers are deepfaking AI model faces onto videos of real models and adult entertainers in order to promote paid subscriptions on fan sites. Continue Reading →

A coalition of 20 tech companies has signed an agreement to combat election-related deepfakes ahead of the 2024 elections. Continue Reading →

As generative AI is being slowly woven into the fabric of our daily lives, its misuse in the political arena has raised significant concerns, particularly as we approach the November elections. To some, recent AI-powered incidents signal an urgent need for legislative action. Continue Reading →

ElevenLabs, an AI startup specializing in voice replication technology, has banned a user account responsible for creating an audio deepfake of President Biden. The deepfake featured a message urging people not to vote in the New Hampshire primary. Continue Reading →