Deepfake it till you make it

What are deep fakes?

The 21st century’s answer to Photoshopping, 'deepfakes' use a form of artificial intelligence called deep learning to make images of fake events, hence the name deepfake. Want to put new words in a politician’s mouth, star in your favourite movie, or dance like a pro? Then it’s time to make a deepfake (The Guardian, 2020).

Deepfakes are synthetic media in which a person in an existing image or video is replaced with someone else's likeness. While the act of faking content is not new, deepfakes leverage powerful techniques from machine learning and artificial intelligence to manipulate or generate visual and audio content with a high potential to deceive (Kietzmann, 2020).

This emerging technology has recently began to transition from something that was used by only academics (and redditors), to a household name and mainstream tool available to use for free through smartphone apps.

Che Guevara, a great deceiver?

Deepfakes in recent months have proved to be powerful and dangerous tools as their results are becoming spectacularly convincing. A quick google search quickly uncovers the very dark and troubling side of deepfake technology. According to a University College London report published in August 2020, fake audio and video content ranked top of 20 ways artificial intelligence could be used for crime — based on the harm it can cause, the potential for profit, ease of use and how difficult it is to stop (Financial Times, 2020).

If Che Guevara were to take revolutionary action in 2021, could he have leveraged Deepfakes to his benefit? Yes! Amongst his guerrilla warfare techniques, Che could have fed the media deep fakes of important individuals with contrasting views. Some would argue that Che Guevara was a master manipulator - He was an educated man surrounded by easily influenced and vulnerable people at the wrong end of the political machine. If he had been able to create fake press releases and statements from presidents etc, he could have easily fed those to potential supporters - spurring on more to follow him in his pursuits.

Deepfakes In Popular Culture

The video below was created using a widely available free app called 'Wombo AI' for your viewing pleasure.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/6bca46_4fa76d2b049e40f596e79c4f341d1e28/144p/mp4/file.mp4

Sources

The Guardian, 2020 https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/sep/04/a-deep-fake-app-will-make-us-film-stars-but-will-we-regret-our-narcissism

Kietzmann, J.; Lee, L. W.; McCarthy, I. P.; Kietzmann, T. C. (2020). "Deepfakes: Trick or treat?". Business Horizons. 63 (2): 135–146. doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2019.11.006.

Japan Times, 2020 https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/10/02/national/crime-legal/two-men-arrested-deepfake-pornography-videos/

Financial Times, 2020 https://www.ft.com/content/8a5fa5b2-6aac-41cf-aa52-5d0b90c41840