Faked Media: Should We Worry About What We See Online?

With the rise of artificial intelligence, realistic animation and more, it is no surprise that we have advanced remarkably in the field of technology.

With Disney Pixar’s Toy Story, released in 1995, breaking records as the first fully computer-generated film, we can truly look forward to what will come in the future. Technology has been hard at work again, and this time, it has brought us something rather controversial, ‘deep fakes’.

Deep fakes, also known as digital faces, are when neural networks use the way you talk and look to manipulate your words – almost as if you are saying them. It is commonly known that there is fake news all around us – anything from a slightly exaggerated headline, to a fully false article. However, deep fakes bring on a whole new level of ‘fake’. Not only can the words you read online be the opposite of authentic, but what we hear and see could be also tampered with.

But how does it all work? Programmers have worked fiercely on AI technology, making it able to recognise facial movements in individuals, closely analysing each and every nuance. Feeding it an abundance of various video clips, the neural network can slowly but accurately ‘learn’ the faces. After a period of time, the fascinating technology is able to smoothly and realistically create a ‘deep fake’.

Many people, of course, worry about the harmful potential this seemingly novel idea has. I mean, anything you see online, whether it be an Instagram post or a Twitter video, could be entirely faked.

At the moment, it is clear to most people whether something is truly authentic or not. However, with enough time, the technology could become dangerous.