Over the past years, deepfake technology has graduated as a niche experience to use in online forums to a force that can produce hyper-realistic videos, audios, and images. Deepfakes are able to alter media to near reality using deep learning and artificial intelligence. Although the technology presents some creative opportunities in the field of entertainment and marketing, it is extremely dangerous, especially when it comes to false information, scam, and hacking.
In the current blog post, we will discuss various deepfake examples, such as entertaining celebrity impersonations and deepfake attacks into the examples that cause serious ethical and security concerns.
What is Deepfake Technology?
Deepfake technology is a form of machine learning known as generative adversarial networks (GANs). These networks are trained to imitate facial expressions, patterns of speech, and other human characteristics by handling terabytes of video or audio data. After being trained, the model is able to generate artificial media that appears genuine (and even with exquisite precision).
Although deepfake was initially famous on its fake celebrity videos, the uses have diversified, with everything as far back as cinema, to cybersecurity being affected.
The famous Deepfake examples in the Pop culture
The best famous deepfakes can be found in the sphere of entertainment, where deepfake is applied to creative narration or satire.
1. The Irishman (2019)
Although it is not a typical deepfake, Martin Scorsese, and The Irishman applied similar methods based on artificial intelligence to de-age Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci. Such facial manipulation became a precedent of the adoption of the deepfake-style technology in Hollywood.
2. TikTok DeepTomCruise
The TikTok account, DeepTomCruise, where an actor resembling Tom Cruise acts with the help of deepfake technology in funny everyday life situations, is one of the most viral deepfakes on the Internet. The videos are realistic enough that many viewers fail to recognize that they are not legitimate, which allows one to speak both about the impressive opportunities and possible threats of such technology.
3. Barack Obama PSA (PSA)
In 2018 film director Jordan Peele published a viral video in which a deepfake of President Barack Obama was used to caution the audience about the risks of fake news. The video demonstrated Obama saying things he never said and then revealed the process of how it was done. It was a precursor to how deepfakes might be used to sway the opinion of the masses.
The examples of Deepfake Attacks in cybersecurity and politics
Deepfake attacks examples demonstrate that deepfakes can be used to harm someone, but deepfakes can also go viral as a joke. These acts range between financial fraud, political sabotage and so forth, which explains why deepfakes are becoming perceived as a cybersecurity threat.
1. Scam voice impersonation of CEO
Of the most commonly referenced deepfake attack examples, a phony voice AI-generated technology was used in a case where cybercriminals were impersonating the CEO of an energy company in the United Kingdom. They duped by cheating the managing director of the company of transferring 243,000 dollars to a fake bank account. It sounded so real that the director did not suspect that it was not his boss talking on the phone.
2. Political deepfake videos
Before elections in different countries, deepfake videos emerged where politicians seem to say or do some controversial things. These can be scheduled to be disruptive and influential to the voters. Although most of them are disproved, the impact of the damage of trust to the people is already there when the truth is revealed.
3. Synthetic Revenge Porn
Among some of the more worrying applications of deepfakes is the production of non-consensual explicit media. Their faces have been imposed on pornographic videos by the victims who are mostly women. Such misuses are why it is so necessary to have legal frameworks that can keep pace with changing deepfake technology.
How to Tell a Deepfake
With the enhanced development of deepfake technology, it is getting harder to detect fake media. Nonetheless, it is not without red flags that could point to a video or an image being a deepfake:
Atypical gestures around the face or eyes
Low discrepancy in lighting or shades
Lip-sync problems or mangled speech
absence of background information or artifacts that surround the face
A few startups and research institutions are also developing AI-based deepfake detection tools, although the cat and mouse game between makers and finders is not over yet.
Future of Deepfakes: Risk or Reward
Nevertheless, deepfakes do not necessarily contain anything negative. In reality, there are companies that find good use of them:
Marketing & Advertising: Brands use deepfakes to revive old celebrities or come up with some winning campaigns.
Education & Accessibility: Deepfakes will be able to facilitate language translation on educational materials by means of lip-syncing.
Film Restoration AI can also be used in fixing the old films through enhancement of visuals or dubbing.
The threat, though, is in abuse. Even a falsely persuasive video can influence the masses, ruin reputations, and defraud as the above examples of deepfakes demonstrate since it is possible to create a video that no one would doubt its authenticity.
Final Thoughts
Deepfake detection technology is making the boundary between reality and fiction progressively fuzzy. Whether it is jaw-dropping deepfake examples in popular culture or chilling deepfake attacks examples in the real world, it is apparent that this innovation has a promise and a danger in it.
It is important to be aware of what deepfakes can do in our age of digital connectivity. There is a need to embrace new technology but also our consciousness and morals and even laws need to improve to keep up with the technology.
