The Race Against Deepfakes

[Cristiano]

Inside the Pentagon’s race against deepfake videos

 

[Free]

WELCOME TO THE FUTURE!

And by 'welcome,' I mean we's fucked.

 

[Kara Spengler]

while looking for it I found this one too:

 

[Cristiano]

Related:

Scarlett Johansson: Fight Against 'Deepfake' Porn Is a 'Lost Cause'

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Think about it, guys: somebody could literally make the Pee Tape right now. Actually make it, from scratch, and it would be convincing. The kinds of (ever more subtle) details that might clue you in that a video is CG, can quite elegantly disappear if the video is made to look like, say, a footage from a hidden miniature camera in a hotel room.

 

[Free]

Think about it, guys: somebody could literally make the Pee Tape right now.

That *that* if the first deepfake video you call out...

 

[Khamon]

How are they going to fix people believing what they see and hear? Does the plan include public education? Or does the Pentagon staff seriously believe they can provide a technological solution for this purely social problem?

 

[Ashiri]

How are they going to fix people believing what they see and hear? Does the plan include public education? Or does the Pentagon staff seriously believe they can provide a technological solution for this purely social problem?

I would say that they are less concerned about those naturally drawn to conspiracy bullshit, and more about the more rational sector of society.

 

[Soen Eber]

I say MAKE the pee tape!

Think of it ... the people who would be most likely to believe it if it were someone else ... Trumpinistas ... would get a very cogent lesson they may actually apply to subsequent deep fakes. "Gee, I'd like to believe that, but ya, remember that fake Trump tape...".

It's sort of a potential sordid Nixon-to-China moment.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

I would say that they are less concerned about those naturally drawn to conspiracy bullshit, and more about the more rational sector of society.

Yep I agree. The ability to detect and definitively state for the record that a video is a deepfake, is sufficient for the historical record and for the sane people. Conspiradorks never needed the existence of deepfakes to justify rejecting video evidence before, so they don't really matter.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

I say MAKE the pee tape!

Think of it ... the people who would be most likely to believe it if it were someone else ... Trumpinistas ... would get a very cogent lesson they may actually apply to subsequent deep fakes. "Gee, I'd like to believe that, but ya, remember that fake Trump tape...".

It's sort of a potential sordid Nixon-to-China moment.

You know.....this is a very good point. If government or media sources are able to confirm and announce the Pee Tape is a fake, Fox News and other sources which would be beating their chests over that, solidly acknowledging the fact that deepfake-detection is legitimate. It would make it extremely difficult for them to later try and cast doubt on the efficacy of deepfake-detection when it exonerates people they politically oppose.

 

[Noodles]

I have not seen any newer ones in a while but all of the Deep Fakes I have seen were very obviously fake. It's sort of an uncanny valley effect.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

I have not seen any newer ones in a while but all of the Deep Fakes I have seen were very obviously fake. It's sort of an uncanny valley effect.

Yeah especially "deepfake porn". I've only seen a couple of clips of these but it's always where you'd never even wonder for a moment whether it might be real. It's basically like Clutch Cargo, but with their whole faces.

I think it's mostly because deepfake porn videos when it comes down to it are made by like just some dude who's maybe skilled with Vegas Pro or something. As opposed to the deepfake politicians in the OP article, which are created by whole labs of people.

 

[Tigger]

I have not seen any newer ones in a while but all of the Deep Fakes I have seen were very obviously fake. It's sort of an uncanny valley effect.

The article linked in the OP includes the chance to try to identify some deepfakes. I got all 4 correct. Some were obvious, some more subtle.

 

[Kara Spengler]

I have not seen any newer ones in a while but all of the Deep Fakes I have seen were very obviously fake. It's sort of an uncanny valley effect.

I am sure fakers will get better over time. For example, they are targeting public images. Which has people wearing makeup, perfectly manicured nails, and so on. In private there would be all sorts of imperfections.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

One of the most used actors for faceswapping is btw Nicholas Cage; Youtube is full of deepfakes with him.

This Joker thing looks for example quite convincing:

 

[Cristiano]

This is scary:

Samsung deepfake AI could fabricate a video of you from a single profile pic

Even the Mona Lisa can be faked.

www.cnet.com

 

[Cristiano]

Deepfake Videos And The Threat Of Not Knowing What's Real

The rapid spread of technology that can essentially bend our digital reality has alarmed experts worldwide.

www.huffpost.com

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

I dunno, I'm just less concerned about this whole business than people are telling me I should be. I need convincing that videos needing provenance by way of adequate source citation, which is something that's already true of photographs and printed quotes and we still use those without too much trouble, isn't the worst that's going to happen as a result of the arrival of deepfakes.

The scenario the beginning of that article proposes, of a presidential candidate's actual supporters seeing a deepfake video of their candidate saying she's withdrawing from the race and believing it over the insistence of the candidate herself saying live that she's not withdrawing and the video was faked, to me is just vastly silly. People forget that political figures, particularly their campaigns, are instantly connected with supporters via social media; it's not like the video would come out and the candidate wouldn't be able to respond until hours or even a day later. The deepfake video that just emerged of Mark Zuckerberg talking about "controlling humanity" or whatever is pretty convincing evidence of that; there isn't a soul on the internet who actually thinks it's real.

The discussion of the recent Pelosi video doesn't really belong, because it wasn't a deepfake. It was just slowed down video; an editing effect that could've easily been done 30 years ago with the same result.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

I really do wonder why all the people crying out loud about deepfakes in the press are not crying about Photoshop. Must be that we are getting used by it now.