DEEPFAKE - we can no longer trust our eyes
May 2019. Every Saturday Paris gets engulfed in chaos, due to the Yellow Vests protests. Social strain grows constantly, people insist on the resignation of Macron and his government. Suddenly, a video clip starts to spread on social media in a flash. Emmanuel Macron is slowly talking to the camera:
I can no longer tolerate the chaos and destruction of my country. From today, streets will be patrolled by the army. They will open a fire to everyone, who participates in protests against France.
Those words are the last straw - France slides into a vicious civil war.
Source
Fortunately, this is a fictional scenario - Macron would never publish such message. However, it could quickly become a reality using deepfake - a technology allowing to put any words into the mouth of any person, including politicians.
Like surprisingly many of new technologies, deepfake had its beginning in the pornography industry. In 2017, an anonymous Reddit user published a porn video with the "pasted" face of Hollywood actress. This caused a sensation in the world of technology - many people started to develop their own Artificial Intelligences intended to use the deepfake technique.
President Trump is total and complete dipshit
This speech of Barack Obama seems to be real, excluding the words he is saying. In fact, it is a performance of an actor, who uses deepfake technology in order to convert his mimic and facial expression into the Obama's face.
This may look like harmless joke, but United States Department of Defense treats this problem really seriously. Recently, they started an intense research on detecting deepfake, in order to prevent manipulations in the upcoming elections.
Revolution on the big screen
Film industry has also understood the importance and potential of deepfake. Princess Leia's face from the first episodes of Star Wars has been scanned and analyzed by Artificial Intelligence. Then, the model has been fitted into the face of a double, imitating the appearance of the actress from before 40 years. If you take a closer look, this trick is still slightly visible, however, deepfake improves really quickly, so in a few years we may not be able to spot the difference.
Source
We can no longer trust our eyes
Political campaigns proved that materials containing falsified data or content (aka fake news) can have a massive impact on the public opinion and political situation. They can spread incredibly fast on social media, infecting millions of people with socially dangerous information.
We absolutely believe our eyes, because it helped us to survive through thousand of years. When camera was invented, it quickly became our primary source of information about the reality. However, some people already question events like the moon landing, despite clear video materials. If deepfake become a part of our reality, making people believe they cannot trust their eyes, the problem of conspiracy theories and misinformation will get worse. Even the biggest and trusted institutions may decide on a slight manipulations, which will be really hard to detect.
Source Deepfake may also have an impact on each of us, individually. Assume you apply to a new job, and someone posts a video of you insulting the company. Today, in order to create such video, Artificial Intelligence would need to analyze hundreds of pictures of you, but with the technological progress it will be becoming much more effective. Therefore, we need to be really careful about photos and data posted on social media, as we cannot predict for what purpose they will be used.
Share your view!
Do you think that deepfake poses a real threat to social structures? Maybe researchers will find an effective way to detect it or public opinion will simply not believe in abstract news? I would be happy to hear your opinion!
The technology you said,
The original original technology, It should have been applied to animation more than ten years ago!
Especially the movie/cartoon/TV series,
At that time, that old technology, I look at it with my eyes, I already can't to know is it true or false?
And the latest deepfake you mentioned, even the professional computer technology can not detect the true and false,
For the public, there is actually not much difference.
Because :
Some is easy deceiving, it’s easy to believe in media coverage.
Some is difficult deceiving, he didn’t believe the media reported.
Only live broadcast will make much peoples to believe.
Thank you for your reply dear @cloudblade
You are right, in terms of the movie industry this technology opens up amazing possibilities. However, I'm curious if actors feel threatened, as they may be replaced by AI in the future.
I get your point, but there is a significant problem. If computers become powerful enough to run deepfake AI in real time, they will be able to manipulate live broadcasts. There is always some delay between the captured reality and your computer monitor (about 2 seconds) and this time will be sufficient to run deepfake.
Quote neavvy :
You are right, in terms of the movie industry this technology opens up amazing possibilities. However, I'm curious if actors feel threatened, as they may be replaced by AI in the future.
my thoughts:
I don't think so, I have seen the actors' performances~~~
The director must hire an actor. After the actor finishes, he uses the technique to modify the appearance of the performance. Therefore, it still requires the actor to perform, but after the performance, the appearance can be modified, so it still has to have those actors, and add instead Expenditure on those technology...
If have any actor is threatened, that is he has not been invited to participate, and has been replaced by other actors. is not AI replaced him, is another characteristic actor replaced him.
Friend @neavvy, thank you for this super great information, I'll tell you something I'm a passionate of the greatest futuristic visionary, well that's my personal opinion which I share here,. The great Jules Verne, many of his visions of the future I think all are already a reality.
A big greeting from Venezuela.
Thank you for your comment dear @lanzjoseg!
Yes... I also love visions of Stanislaw Lem, he was pretty accurate in his view on the future.
Deep fakes will be used to incite violence, and probably have. The situation with the yellow vests is quite possible. I would imagine it would be the reverse though; the establishment will use a video of a rebel leader using deep fake tech to justify their violence against others. I started hearing about this last summer, it’s interesting stuff.
I think blockchain can save us in this instance though; videos from original posters uploaded to the blockchain from verified and known accounts. It wouldn’t be able to be modified so that’s the real one. If it’s not posted in that manner then it’s fake. Just a thought of a way to combat it.
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Thank you for your reply @cmplxty. I am really amazed by the fact that you are so responsive.
That's also really interesting scenario.
Interesting point. Don't you think that people in blockchain lack of trust? There is no "strong" authority in here which would bring some sort of control, so many people are really careful. After all, there are a lot of scams and frauds in blockchain.
Hi @cmplxty,
A fantastic comment. Really, you've given a simple solution to a really complex problem @cmplxty.
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I think I have watched that years ago. It was, and still is shocking information. People rather do not even think about that, because it would hurt too much, thinking how many times they were faked by the "news"
Thank you for your comment @worldfinances
Yes, sometimes it's better not to think about that :)
@neavvy, Without any doubt these kind of Technology is a Threat. And we have to understand that, over technological adoption is not good for human beings specially it will hurt Privacy. Stay blessed.
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Thank you for your constant support @chireerocks. I really appreciate that :)
Yes, this is crucial :)
Welcome and that's true. Have a productive time ahead. Stay blessed.
Hi @neavvy,
Right from the day #1, all of the blogposts sent by you are very informative and interesting and this needs no special mention!
As usual, the problem lies with the pipl's mindset. This is the bitter truth and those hardcore criminals are trying to cash in
on this pessimism.
Generally speaking, when someone is speaking about a person's good qualities, we're least bothered by it. If suppose, when someone is speaking ill of another one, all of our ears will listen to it carefully! As said by @chekohler, we will not do the much required research to ascertain the fact before coming to a conclusion.
Why this partiality? We always love to hear great about us and worst about others. This ill-minded mindset is the one and only reason for creation and existence of all of the problems existing all over the world.
But we aren't ready to accept the truth when someone has torn our real face in front of millions and millions of pipl living all over the world. It is okay for others, but not for us. So our mindset is biased.
For example, a deep(shit)fake video circulated in WhatsApp showing a morphed video of a minority (caste) member violently injuring a person of another caste and this ignited a bloody trail of communal violence. This was wantonly done by some miscreants who perpetrated the same causing communal unrest.
Be it slightly accurate video or a video as a result of latest technological advancement like this deep(shit)fake, the problem is the same.
So, if our minds are filled with impartial love, this Superior Quality will spread all over the world and so let's rectify our minds FIRST and then think about nullifying the side effects of this technological advancement LATER!
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What an amazing reply @marvyinnovation :)
It's a pleasure to read comments like the one you wrote. Steemit definetly need more people like you.
ps. would you believe that @neavvy is only 17 years old? I couldn't believe it until finally we've met a while ago.
Cheers, Piotr
Thank you for your kind words, @crypto.piotr...... 🙂
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Thank you for such an amazing comment dear @marvyinnovation! I love the fact you are so responsive :)
Thank you. I am really happy to hear that.
Yes, I fully agree with this statement.
I think that's the correct approach. We need to be aware that technology (including deep(shit)fake :) ) can't be good or bad itself. It's all about what we, humans, do with those tools. So if we want to make technology more secure and harmless, we need to start from ourselves.
Thank you @neavvy for your kind words.
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Dear, very good information you share with us.
Wooo friend, the increase in technology is surpassing us. Being honest is the first time I hear about this, but I can say that all this technology has its risks, I imagine that over time people will get used to it and they will be able to detect when the news is true or when it is false.
Thanks for sharing this information.
Pr EV
Thank you for your constant support @fucho80
I am not sure if it will be possible, but I hope so :)
The solution to this problem isn't really that difficult, except that it will be difficult for authority to accept because to solve this problem requires them relinquishing control. The lesson here is that the position of president is obsolete. It is based upon trust. But with Bitcoin we have, "don't trust, verify".
To the extent that we all have copyright control over our own "image", such replications beyond this is a violation of copyright, but how could this be enforced? Simply by not trusting anything and using verification instead. If something isn't signed with the correct hash / signature, then it simply isn't valid. We've been doing this in the world of PGP for nearly 3 decades now.
Also, it's time for people to get over rage based social media militarized propaganda techniques. These people are going to start looking very stupid in the near future.
The best answer is to localize your business. Globalization just magnifies the problems (but makes politicians / parasites very rich). The vote is just an excuse to globalize problems. There's no reason why someone casting a vote thousands of miles away should have any impact whatsoever in my house.
The ideal range of anyones voting power should not average much more than about 5 acres. Anything beyond that is meddling in other peoples business. To the extent that there are such issues that require global attention (such as nuclear power), they should be governed by consensus algorithms and singled out from congressional bills and voted on individually (the mass packaging of bills is just another political trick to avoid accountability and make parasites very rich).
Dear @zoidsoft
One of the best comment I've read in that topic so far. Seriously thanks for sharing your view with us.
I'm not sure if I understand you well. Does it mean that if I migrated for some period of time in order to look for better life, then I shouldnt be allowed to vote?
Have a great upcoming week buddy
Yours, Piotr
No. It means that some things shouldn't be voted on at all but are a matter of sovereignty. Should I be able to vote on what you're allowed to do in your bedroom? How about all of us voting on how much of a raise we give to ourselves from your wallet? (this is theft, but we call it taxes instead) The brainwashing of society is severe and as a result, humanity consents to the insane.
Thank you for your kind comment @zoidsoft and solid explanation
Appreciate it a lot.
Yours
Piotr
Thank you for this amazing comment @zoidsoft! I agree with Piotr, this is indeed one of the best I've read in this thread.
Interesting conclusion. I generally agree with the concept of living locally, but don't you think that globalization is somehow unavoidable nowadays? Localized business means smaller "range" and smaller profit.
Yes, I got your point. Absolutely agree.
Such dispersed democracy is really interesting concept. I would like to see it in reality, but I'm afraid that it will never be implemented - our governments are too centralized.
Thank you again for your insights and have a nice day :)
The internet is global, so is the air supply. That doesn't mean that I breath in air from the whole planet at the same time. Accessing the internet is a voluntary act and therefore under your control. The disease is coercion and use of force. Some think that they have a right to dictate to you what you're allowed to see and think. These are the rising technocrats. Mr. "Don't be Evil" himself said this...
In other words, give them all your data so that they can tailor search results to what you expect. This is what I have referred to as a "digital thought ghetto" in my blog. Giving this kind of power to any centralized entity will produce extreme corruption. They can manipulate your emotions, get you to buy anything, vote for anything. Imagine giving this kind of power to Rev. Jim Jones? What could go wrong?
The result is that people won't grow and this is already happening in the social media echo chambers. Google isn't the only one doing this. Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, etc are all getting in on this.
Government has recognized the importance of this and wants to "regulate" it, not for your protection, but for their control over you.
Test... Have you heard of the "Yellow Vests" (Les gilets jaunes)? If not, why is that? Who is trying to filter that information out of your conscious awareness? Why might they want to do that? This is "soft fascism".
Localized government means smaller parasites. Global business is OK as long as it "does no harm". Anything that could affect someone else negatively should be held under a consensus algorithm. Spreading joy globally, not an issue, unless you're a government curmudgeon invested in Raytheon or Northrup Grumman (military contractors) who makes money on spreading war.
Greetings @neavvy, great article, a few days ago I was reading about this precisely, and it is that draws much attention to where you can focus the use of this technology, because as in everything there is its good side and its bad side, and of course it is necessary to emphasize that as many look for the good there are those who look for the evil and sometimes harming or distorting for what really this technology was created ... what so to say it dirty the face to what perhaps can be something good, because suppose we have some very famous artist and you have a song that fascinates you, with this technology although the artist is deceased could create again a music video which for all the technology at disposal probably has a brutal quality, compared to the original and not It's wrong, but well, as I told you before, there's something wrong with the case you raised about Macron's supposed message ...
Socially this can affect us more or less depending on the position we occupy, but what if it is something that is very easy to elaborate any of our environment could do and is that at the rate we are going all technology is perfecting it to the point of doing it simpler for its use in some cases facilitating it to all (in some cases). I think that to detect when those messages are false, there is going to be a lot of work in this, since we would have to develop an artificial intelligence that is exclusively responsible for it or adapt the program that is already used to create by means of reengineering for that purpose.
Thank you for such an amazing reply @jjqf
I agree in 100%, this an ultimate truth that always needs to be considered. Especially in terms of technology development.
AI detecting deepfake is a really interesting conception, but I'm curious about its efficiency. It would probably work like computer viruses - they are always one step ahead of anti viruses.
As such, I share your opinion @neavvy, and that is how it will be, but with time we hope we can make it work as well as possible and avoid misunderstandings.
Definitely :) I think we will be able to do that at least on some level.
What an amazing reply @jjqf :)
It's a pleasure to read comments like the one you wrote. Steemit definetly need more people like you.
ps.
Would you perhaps consider using "enter" from time to time? To separate blocks of texts? It would make it much easier to read.
Cheers, Piotr
Thanks @crypto.piotr for considering my comment as such, for me a compliment coming from someone like you.
Yes, with regard to the organization, if I know how they would say here "mala mia" similar to my mistake
Dear @jjqf
Stop it .... I'm already blushing :)
Cheers, Piotr
Somehow I feel shocked but I know it's true and I know it is, just like fake news, a real threat. It will not change the social structure that already happened years ago.
No matter how smart people claim to be, they still believe gossip and only a few try to find out the truth.
We love it if someone is accused of...
We simply don't care about the truth.
We already see it in politics since years (ages). We all know politicians lie and do not care about us, still we vote on them.
And if it comes to Macron. He will say this sooner or later and I hope the French will not be as stupid as the Dutchmen who let themselves scold by their prime minister each time again.
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Indeed @wakeupkitty - it is a real threat, and noone seem to know how to protect themselfs
Thank you for amazing (as always) reply @wakeupkitty
Yes, this is very strange situation. But do we have any better choice? I guess that's the best social structure, at least for now. I think that people generally tend to choose politicians that will be the most harmless in their opinion, this is really sad.
No people choose for what they are used too. Most are afraid for changes. It is the same as we see in so many misogyne relationships... the victim finds it easier/better to be beaten up by the partner as starting a new life alone which takes courage.
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That's also true. Changes are the least desired thing in our society.