Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

'Deepfake is the future of content creation'

'Deepfake is the future of content creation'

A few months ago, millions of TV viewers across South Korea were watching the MBN channel to catch the latest news.

At the top of the hour, regular news anchor Kim Joo-Ha started to go through the day's headlines. It was a relatively normal list of stories for late 2020 - full of Covid-19 and pandemic response updates.

Yet this particular bulletin was far from normal, as Kim Joo-Ha wasn't actually on the screen. Instead she had been replaced by a "deepfake" version of herself - a computer-generated copy that aims to perfectly reflect her voice, gestures and facial expressions.

Viewers had been informed beforehand that this was going to happen, and South Korean media reported a mixed response after people had seen it. While some people were amazed at how realistic it was, others said they were worried that the real Kim Joo-Ha might lose her job.

MBN said it would continue to use the deepfake for some breaking news reports, while the firm behind the artificial intelligence technology - South Korean company Moneybrain - said it would now be looking for other media buyers in China and the US.

When most people think of deepfakes, they imagine fake videos of celebrities. In fact, only last week one such bogus - but very lifelike - video of Tom Cruise made headlines around the world after it appeared on TikTok.

The deepfake video of Tom Cruise was ultimately removed from TikTok, but the account that placed it remains there

Despite the negative connotations surrounding the colloquial term deepfakes (people don't usually want to be associated with the word "fake"), the technology is increasingly being used commercially.

More politely called AI-generated videos, or synthetic media, usage is growing rapidly in sectors including news, entertainment and education, with the technology becoming increasingly sophisticated.

One of the early commercial adopters has been Synthesia, a London-based firm that creates AI-powered corporate training videos for the likes of global advertising firm WPP and business consultancy Accenture.

"This is the future of content creation," says Synthesia chief executive and co-founder Victor Riparbelli.

To make an AI-generated video using Synthesia's system you simply pick from a number of avatars, type in the word you wish for them to say, and that is pretty much it.

Synthesia's users pick from a number of avatars

Mr Riparbelli says this means that global firms can very easily make videos in different languages, such as for in-house training courses.

"Let's say you have 3,000 warehouse workers in North America," he says. "Some of them speak English, but some may be more familiar with Spanish.

"If you have to communicate complex information to them, a four-page PDF is not a great way. It would be much better to do a two or three-minute video, in English and Spanish.

"If you had to record every single one of those videos, that's a massive piece of work. Now we can do that for [little] production costs, and whatever time it'll take someone to write the script. That pretty much exemplifies how the technology is used today."

Mike Price, the chief technology officer of ZeroFox, a US cyber-security company that tracks deepfakes, says their commercial use is "growing significantly year over year, but exact numbers are difficult to pin down".

However, Chad Steelberg, chief executive of Veritone, a US AI technology provider, says that the increasing concern about malicious deepfakes is holding back investment in the technology's legitimate, commercial use.

"The term deepfakes has definitely had a negative response in terms of capital investment in the sector," he says. "The media and consumers, rightfully so, can clearly see the risks associated.

"It has definitely hindered corporations as well as investors from piling into the technology. But I think you are starting to see that crack."

Mike Papas, chief executive of Modulate, an AI firm that allows users to create the voice of a different character or person, says that firms in the wider commercial synthetic media sector "really care about ethics".

"It amazing to see the depth of thought these people put into it," he says. "That has ensured that investors also care about that. They're asking about ethics policies, and how you're thinking about it."

Lilian Edwards, professor of law, innovation and society at Newcastle Law School, is an expert on deepfakes. She says that one issue surrounding the commercial use of the technology that hasn't been fully addressed is who owns the rights to the videos.

"For example, if a dead person is used, such as [the actor] Steve McQueen or [the rapper] Tupac, there is an ongoing debate about whether their family should own the rights [and make an income from it]," she says.

"Currently this differs from country to country."

Deborah Johnson, professor of applied ethics, emeritus, at the University of Virginia, recently co-wrote an article entitled "What To Do About Deepfakes?".

She says: "Deepfakes are part of the larger problem of misinformation that undermines trust in institutions and in visual experience - we can no longer trust what we see and hear online.

"Labelling is probably the simplest and most important counter to deepfakes - if viewers are aware that what they are viewing has been fabricated, they are less likely to be deceived."

Prof Sandra Wachter, a senior research fellow in AI at Oxford University, says that deepfake technology "is racing ahead".

Prof Sandra Wachter says the response to deepfakes needs to be "nuanced"

"If you watched the Tom Cruise video last week, you can see how good the technology is getting," she says. "It was far more realistic than the President Obama one from four years ago.

"We shouldn't get too fearful of the technology, and there needs to be a nuanced approach to it. Yes there should be laws in place to clamp down on bad and dangerous things like hate speech and revenge porn. Individuals and society should be protected from that.

"But we shouldn't have an outright ban on deepfakes for satire or freedom of expression. And the growing commercial use of the technology is very promising, such as turning movies into different languages, or creating engaging educational videos."

One such educational use of AI-generated videos is at the University of Southern California's Shoah Foundation, which houses more than 55,000 video testimonies from Holocaust survivors.

A Holocaust survivor with his avatar at the Shoah Foundation

Its Dimensions In Testimony project allows visitors to ask questions that prompt real-time responses from the survivors in the pre-recorded video interviews.

Mr Steelberg says that in the future such technology will enable grandchildren to have conversations with AI versions of deceased elderly relatives. "That's game changing, I think, for how we think about our society."

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
EU Proposes Phasing Out Russian Oil and Gas by End of 2027 to End Energy Dependence
More Than 150,000 Followers for a Fictional Character: The New Influencers Are AI Creations
EU Prepares for War
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Big Tech Executives Laud Trump at White House Dinner, Unveil Massive U.S. Investments
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
‘Looks Like a Wig’: Online Users Express Concern Over Kate Middleton
Florida’s Vaccine Revolution: DeSantis Declares War on Mandates
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
"The Situation Has Never Been This Bad": The Fall of PepsiCo
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
The Fashion Designer Who Became an Italian Symbol: Giorgio Armani Has Died at 91
Putin Celebrates ‘Unprecedentedly High’ Ties with China as Gazprom Seals Power of Siberia-2 Deal
China Unveils New Weapons in Grand Military Parade as Xi Hosts Putin and Kim
Rapper Cardi B Cleared of Liability in Los Angeles Civil Assault Trial
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Druzhba Pipeline Incident Sparks Geopolitical Tensions
Cost of Opposition Leader Péter Magyar's Economic Plan Revealed
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
Von der Leyen's Plane Hit by Suspected Russian GPS Interference in an Incident Believed to Be Caused by Russia or by Pro-Peace or by Anti-Corruption European Activists
China's Robotics Industry Fuels Export Surge
Suntory Chairman Resigns After Police Probe
Gold Price Hits New All-Time Record
UK Fintechs Explore Buying US Banks
Greece Suspends 5% of Schools as Birth Rate Drops
Apollo to Launch $5 Billion Sports Investment Vehicle
Bolsonaro Trial Nears Close Amid US-Brazil Tension
European Banks Push for Lower Cross-Border Barriers
×