Picture this: The world wakes up to
a video wherein US President Donald Trump makes the shocking announcement of an
imminent nuclear attack on North Korea. Or this: a video in which Mukesh Ambani
makes a calamitous-worthy announcement, sending the stock market into a tizzy and
shareholders scurrying to save their asses.
These two instances are not slices
from a dystopian fictional account, but could be possible, thanks to the
disruptive powers of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The marriage between news
dissemination and technology has already led to the unwitting and disastrous birth
of fake news. And now artificially created fake videos that look
ultra-realistic are heralding a new era in fake news. Yes, video-faking
technology is posed to blur the gossamer-thin line between real and fake.
Technology, internet in particular,
has enabled the democratization of information and news. But it has come with a
price. Today, the sly art of morphing and doctoring is longer sly. Anybody with
a smart phone can execute his whims, perverse fancies or discreet political
agendas by creating and spreading fake videos. AI and deep-learning make it
possible for anyone to create a video from a single static image. What was
hitherto a complicated and time-consuming job executed mostly by techno savants
at big film production houses (we owe them for the Jurassic Park!) can now be
done with consummate ease by anybody with a smart phone.
This face-swapping technology, assisted
by deep-learning, can be used for harmless purposes. May be you can use your
life-like image for a video chat in case your physical presence is warranted
somewhere else. Or you can have your video persona created and make it available
for a virtual game. However, such benign deployment of this technology will happen
only in our dreams as the world we are living now is given far more to misuse
than use.
Already, websites like Reddit have
been awash with fake porn videos of celebrities such as Israel model-actress
Gal Gadot, Aubrey Plaza, Taylor Swift, Scarlett Johansson, etc. These fake
videos are created using techniques like DeepFakes, which blends AI and deep-learning.
Fake video-creating apps, such as FakeApp, make the technique of face-swapping much
easier. FakeApp, according to its website, was “designed to make the process of
creating realistic face-swaps with deep learning as smooth, simple, and quick
as possible.” FakeApp makes use of open source machine-learning tools that were
developed by the AI division of Google.
Innocuous video-trolls targeting individuals;
revengeful personal videos; counterfeit clips of important politicians of the
world; fake videos of riots, police firing on crowds, politicians making
outlandish and outrageous announcements that can alter the world order and
disrupt the equanimity… Doctored videos can force their way in varied hues and
can be potent weapons for disaster. By the time a certain video has been proved
fake, the damage would already have been done. Well, that is exactly what the
creators of such doctored videos seek to achieve in the first place. Imagine
the kind of ramifications a doctored video of Donald Trump declaring nuclear
attack on North Korea or any of his rival country can cause. Knee-jerk
chest-thumping and retaliatory war cries can be followed by more dangerous
actions.
Political campaigners, lobbyists
and professional spin doctors, who have already perfected the fine art of
subterfuge and covert manipulation using technology – remember Russian
intervention in US presidential polls – have now these AI-assisted tools at
their disposal to manipulate things to their advantage. The phenomenon of fake
videos can be quite unsettling and plain scary as it fundamentally erodes our trust
in the very institution called media and worldwide web. One may tend to develop
an uncanny sense of distrust over news itself. The flip side of technological
advancement is that it throws up a dystopian dilemma where we won’t be able to
believe our own eyes.
The world is already waking up to the
problem. TechCrunch has reported that the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded contracts to SRI International, a nonprofit
research group, for identifying manipulated videos and deepfakes. US lawmakers
have sounded alarm over the potential dangers posed by fake videos.
Legislations, however, cannot arrest the scourge of fake videos just as an ‘anti-virus
law’ cannot eradicate computer viruses.
What then are the ways in which people
can restrain themselves from falling into the fake video trap? Of course, we
have not reached a stage of panic yet. However, experts warn that the world
will have to live with the phenomenon in the days to come, and it is imperative
to find a solution. Social media platforms will need to work on their
algorithms and introduce effective authentication methods to stem counterfeit
videos. Biometric-assisted authentication methods to distinguish real people
from impersonators will have to be introduced. Soon, we may have software
installed on our PC/mobile, on the lines of anti-virus software, which can
detect and forewarn about fake videos.
Until sufficient mechanism is
developed to authenticate genuine videos, one needs to be extremely vigilant
and exercise a fair amount of circumspection and a sense of discernment in the
face of such mischievous videos. Think thrice before believing such suspicious
videos, double-check with authentic and reliable sources, and most importantly,
refrain from spreading such suspicious videos. Awareness creation is the key. Students
at school/college level need to be educated on the need to remain critical and wary
of such phenomena.
Following recent air strikes on
three Syrian targets by the UK, the US, and French forces, Twitter and Facebook
were filled with fake pictures and videos of the attacks on the conflict-ravaged
country. Al Jazeera reported that even leading media corporations like NBC News
and PressTV showed a widely circulated video as the attack on Syria, which in
reality was an artillery attack on the city of Luhansk in Ukraine way back in
2015. This is just one example of how even the mainstream media fall prey to the
insidious nature of fake news and videos. Just one more reason to be wary of
this fake phenomenon.
(First appeared in Delhi Post)
http://delhipostnews.com/youve-got-a-video-and-its-fake/
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