Imagine a world without social media, and all the attention it portends. The hunger for likes and eyeballs for viral private trivia, pictures, and videos drives people, irrespective of race, nationality, gender, and financial position. But around this digital world we have constructed for ourselves within our real world, there are no walls.
Today, Artificial Intelligence supports functions of daily life, from managing basic tasks through personal assistants, planning trips, to even playing chess online. AI reflects the horizons reached by technology. In all this inventive glory, rest some dark areas, beyond human control, and open to blatant misuse. One such demon unleashed by the AI boom is ‘Deepfake’.
An everyday ‘ping’?
As ubiquitous social media and AI tech may seem, so is the prevalence of deepfakes causing harm.
Just this week, a Kerala man fell prey to an AI-deepfake scam, getting cheated to the tune of Rs 40,000. According to media reports, he received a video call from an unknown number. On answering, the person on the other side resembled a former colleague, who sought financial help, to which the victim obliged. Later, he realised that the caller was an imposter, who targeted him using deepfake.
Deepfake is a type of AI, which is used to create image, audio and video hoaxes. It also defines the resulting content. Apart from creating digital body doubles of people, deepfakes try to predict their age-related appearance, create fake sound-bytes, and can literally develop/steal identities. By doing all this, it poses a grave threat, i.e. spreading false information, fomenting conflict, and playing with people’s lives.
In 2022, a video depicting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared on social media, where he was seen asking his troops to surrender. However, it was discovered and removed in time. A lot of deepfakes have also targeted the likes of former US president Barack Obama and actor Tom Cruise.
Another ‘thriving industry’ liberally using deepfake tech is pornography, where anonymous creators incorporate morphing techniques and tools to generate fake profiles.
Besides, a string of researchers, enthusiasts, and VFX studios have mastered their craft, while miscreants go about their mission of harassment, blackmail, intimidation, negative influence, and destabilisation. While AI and CGI tools are available, all that’s needed are stealing people’s profiles, which can be readily done on social media.