How can we “stop deepfakes from sinking society?”
It is easy for AI to generate convincing images and videos, but we need to ensure we can guard against the harm such deepfakes could cause. The US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency lead, Wil Corvey says we should question not “how much of this is synthetic” but instead “why was this made?” One problem identified is that “people are not used to generative technology” says Cynthia Rudin from Duke University, North Carolina. There is no degree of scepticism as this technology has exploded onto the scene rather than developed slowly. Some deepfake images are fun and for entertainment, but others can be used to deceive and carry out fraudulent activities. One way to help detect these synthetic images is to watermark them by altering pixels in a method that is imperceptible to the naked eye but is picked up on analysis; or to tag a file’s metadata to authenticate an image.
So What?
There is a losing battle occurring to detect deepfakes, we need greater technological literacy and tools at our disposal to counteract the harmful deepfakes. As our own Dr Sophie Nightingale says “People’s ability to really know where they should place their trust is falling away. And that’s a real problem for democracy”. With major elections due in many countries there is possibly a big threat to contend with.
