60 Minutes, the CBS weekly news show, did a segment this past Sunday on the powers of so-called deepfakes. Deepfakes refers to the use of AI to alter how a person looks or sounds on video. It can also be used to make one person appear to be and sound like another.
According to Wikipedia. Deepfakes (a combination of “deep learning” and “fake”) are synthetic media in which a person in an existing image on a video is simply replaced with someone else’s likeness. Deepfakes use machine learning and artificial intelligence to manipulate or generate both visual and audio content.
The technique has been used to make celebrities look as if they are in pornography movies. In one example, 60 minutes showed how a Tom Cruise impersonator’s appearance could be altered to make him look just like and sound just like the real Tom Cruise. This alteration was done by superimposing the face of the real Tom Cruise on the impersonator’s face. Since the impersonator already had the mannerisms down pat, the alteration was pretty easy. Here’s a link to the video, as well as nine other famous deepfakes.
It was quickly pointed out that the AI and software are still developing and are presently expensive. See also a recent NPR article that makes the same point. But the creators of this altering process also pointed out that it won’t be long until these alterations are easy.
There is a danger that witnesses and even lawyers could alter their online appearance
This ability got me thinking about the dangers and possible benefits of deep fakes in litigation. As we continue to do things more and more remotely, there is a danger that witnesses and even lawyers could alter their online appearance to become better and