theconversation.com: In the second season of BBC mystery thriller The Capture, deepfakes threaten the future of democracy and UK national security. In a dystopia set in present day London, hackers use AI to insert these highly realistic false images and videos of people into live news broadcasts to destroy the careers of politicians.
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Just from the title of this article, I was a bit confused on what exactly was going on within the article, and what exactly they were trying to convey when saying “Being Used for Good”. However, I think that this article is a really good reference when it comes to the modern political climate, especially here in Pennsylvania with our current election season. With the creation of video ads and jumpcutting, especially when viewing political ads, it becomes really apparent just how far video editing and other manipulation platforms can be pushed to create a convincing-enough video to fool the common viewer. Especially in a world that is so heavily influenced by media consumption, it truly makes you stop and think about what is real and what is fake within your average social media consumption, and what news sources you should garner your content from in order to receive accurate, factually correct pieces of information to formulate your opinions around. No matter your outlook on AI and its inherent abilities, it is abundantly clear that AI and its technologies are going to be prevalent in the future of our political climate, and finding a way of verifying imagery will be a necessity.
Deep fakes and the technology they use is absolutely terrifying but also absolutely incredible. I neve thought that we would have such advanced technology to literally reincarnate people in movies and tv, not to mention the more accessible variant of deep fakes that are free to anyone, face filters. I watch some videos online and can barely tell deep fakes and non- deep fakes apart. Although this tech is super cool and could be used in really fun and interesting ways in the entertainment industry, in my opinion, there could be more cons than pros to deep fakes. A more lighthearted approach mentioned in the article, like taking a selfie with Dali in Florida, is all fun and good, but the majority of their application is being used to create deceit. Deep fakes could be used to harm rather than help in a lot of cases, and the effects could be truly terrifying and disturbing. The idea of somebody using just a photo of a person and being able to literally create their face digitally and use it like a mask can be really scary.
Maybe it's because I have been avoiding my phone and the news cycle for so long but now I'm like truly terrified of how far technology has come that people are using deepfakes to spread information in such a wild way. Like this feels like the 2022 version of spreading precaution leaflets on prohibition and reading them at a pub. But it's absolutely crazy dude, like I didn't realize how relevant facial recognition and artificial intelligence is in modern day life now. I say that, and then the article goes on to talk about how Salvador Dali's deepfake twin got to introduce the museum goers to his art and that honestly sounds so fucking cool. Now this feels like I'm about to spiral into a whole other ordeal about how if art is in the eye of the beholder, then the responsibility of technology is in the hands of its user.
Deepfakes are such an interesting technology that has quickly developed in the last few years. It definitely was a concerning thing when it first popped on the scene, but like many tools their value is more based on how the people used them. The different types of creative uses mentioned in this article are rather interesting. I feel like with the recent ongoings on Twitter, we are currently at a prime time for convincing parodies of important professionals and celebrities. Whether it’s a verified twitter account or a deepfake that is a little off, there is a lot of comedy potential in a good, just not quiet right parody. There are also meaningful and artistic uses of deepfake technology like the gun control psa mentioned in the article. With the amount of de-aging technology and use of dead actors’ faces in movies recently, there is going to be a blurring of existing cgi technologies and deepfake ai technology.
To be fully and completely honest, deepfakes creep me out a little. And by a little, I mean a lot. The idea that you can fully impersonate someone, without their consent, in video format, really gives me the heebie jeebies. After reading this article, although there do seem to be some non cartoonishly villainous ways to use deepfakes, I still feel a lot of hesitance to talk about the positives of technology. I really do think that it’s cool that they can almost resurrect people, though. As long as it’s with permission. I think a lot of my personal feelings against deepfakes come from learning about them through hearing that women were being made into pornographic content without their consent. I think it’s hard to see the good of technology like that when there was so much bad stuff involved in it’s creation. I think one of it’s coolest applications would definitely be bringing people’s memories back, only with permission from the family though. It all boils down to consent.
The title of this article intrigued me because I have really only ever heard about deep fakes in a negative light. After reading the article I do see how deep fakes can be used in ways that are positive or are seen in a more positive light. The examples they use in the article like the Dali deep fake and the Channel 4 deep take are two very different examples, but both show some of the pros and some of the cons of deep fakes pretty effectively. Deep fakes are another technology that are evolving so quickly, and it’ll be interesting to see where they progress in the future - they do worry me a little bit. It’s a little bit reassuring that people have at least for now found a way to accurately identify deep fakes. I did appreciate how the article concluded with a note acknowledging the need for laws and ethical rules regulating deep fakes because they can definitely be used in a very negative way.
Coming from someone who has been living in China most of their life, deepfakes have been a problem for a good while now. I don’t quite see how deepfakes are being used for good, and this article was not clear about that either. While the use of deepfake creatively is cool, I don’t quite see a use in it other than it being cool, and although it adds to the experiences’ intimacy, it’s also very off-putting to actually see the person that’s passed, appear in front of you and interact with you. Like other uses of deepfakes, this feels exploitative and unethical. The article mentions ethical guidelines at the very end, but I really wished the article touched more upon it, as the title was really misleading already. I really enjoyed reading about a show written upon deepfakes, as I didn’t even know it existed, but also makes me think if more shows like that could be made and produced so that the public knows about the problem more.
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