Deepfake Videos

Deepfake+Videos

Caleb Pendleton, Op-Ed Editor

Reports are showing that people need to be wary about a new technology called “deepfake” videos that may effect out mainstream news and possibly different websites or social media that society uses. This new technology is a newly discovered video tool that lets people manipulate the face of another person and use artificial intelligence to make a mockery video of someone, mostly politicians and celebrities. There is a video of Obama talking about Trump and while it seems bad, Obama was actually being animated as a different person speaking.

This kind of technology could affect America in a negative way, especially in the upcoming election of 2020. Since most people believe what they see on the news, any news sites that use deep fake videos could give false information to viewers. It’s already hard enough to believe everything the news says and imagine if it was actually being faked right in front of your eyes? The lawmakers of the US say “As deepfake technology becomes more advanced and more accessible, it could pose a threat to United States public discourse and national security, with broad and concerning implications for offensive active measures campaigns targeting the United States.”

Yes, this animation does look pretty odd when you study it in more detail and you will be able to notice that it’s not real, but this isn’t always the case unless you have two videos of an animated and real person right next to each other. Nobody will be watching the news and say “is that fake?” People will just see the video and automatically think it is real.

This technology could also sabotage brands by putting words into the other mouths of CEO’s and this would not be good for our economy. We would need to come up with something that could detect deepfake videos and counter them before they turn into a bigger issue.