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THE RISE OF DEEPFAKE TECHNOLOGY

You’re watching the six o’clock news, and your favourite newsreader is telling you about the main stories of the day. But have you ever asked yourself whether that is really your favourite newsreader on the screen in front of you? Right now, it almost certainly is. However, fast-moving AI technology means that you might have to check a bit more carefully in the future, as you could be watching something called a ‘deepfake’. Indeed, this happened recently in South Korea when a top newsreader was seen reading the news while the real person was actually elsewhere. Viewers had been told this was going to happen, but many were still amazed at how a computer generated copy of the newsreader was able to accurately reflect her voice, hand movements, and typical facial expressions. Members of the public surprised staff at the station by calling to check whether the real newsreader might lose her job to the ‘new arrival’. The news station even indicated it would be willing to use the deepfake on future breaking news reports if the real person was not available. So how are these deepfakes created? They depend heavily on very advanced computer technology. Hundreds of thousands of images of a person’s face are fed into a computer with special graphics software. The computer is programmed to look for repeated patterns in these images so it can eventually generate its own version of the face, complete with familiar expressions. The same process is applied to the person’s voice: hours of their speech are analysed, and once the computer has learned the speech patterns, an operator simply has to type in what they want the person to say. But what issues do these deepfakes raise? As you might imagine, quite a few. One obvious use is to make it seem like a historical figure is still alive. As a result, it is now possible to see, for example, a full-colour version of US President Abraham Lincoln (who died in 1865) marking his birthday with a very up-to-date speech. It is also controversial to make living people say or do things they have not, in reality, done. The possibilities appear endless, and the potential to damage someone’s reputation is clear, as the technology could easily be used for political or financial gain. There are, however, certain benefits to be gained in commercial fields. A company could produce a training video and have the same person present it naturally in many different languages without having to spend considerable time and money producing mountains of translated supporting documents. The use of deepfakes is growing rapidly in entertainment and educational fields as well and will continue to do so as the technology becomes more sophisticated. Can you imagine a world in fifty years’ time when you have no idea if the person talking to you via a screen is real? Although AI technology is able to make the deepfake respond appropriately to certain questions, it may still have one or two differences that a trained eye can spot. These are usually in the eyes, which may blink unnaturally or have a duller colour than in real life. There may also be certain unnatural-looking facial movements that the AI cannot make look natural. Fortunately, intelligent software is also being developed which will be able to identify in an instant whether a video is real or fake. Having said that, software experts are already busy creating the next generation of even more sophisticated deepfakes to stay ahead of the game.

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What does the text suggest about recognising a newsreader in the future?

What is necessary to create a realistic deepfake?

Why is deepfake technology considered controversial?