Artists Bill Posters and Daniel Howe with Canny recently uploaded this deeply fictionalized video depicting Mark Zuckerberg gloating over his dominion over billions.
Social media companies face an ongoing test in balancing fighting misinformation with protecting free speech. Facebook decided not to remove a doctored video of Nancy Pelosi but de-prioritized it and installed third-party fact checkers instead.
What is a deepfake?
Deepfakes are a type of fake video created using machine learning technology to swap out an individual’s face or body for someone else, often used to make celebrity spoof videos but sometimes also used for political propaganda or misinformation campaigns. Their name refers to the technology employed in creating these fakes based on deep neural networks.
Neural networks can analyze thousands of images and facial features to learn how to replicate them, then apply this algorithm to new video footage in order to make it seem real. When trying to detect a deepfake, look out for unnatural expressions, body movements or postures as well as abrupt movement or lighting that seems out-of-place.
One way to detect a deepfake is through listening to its audio file. If the voice doesn’t match with what you see on camera, chances are high it is likely a fake. There is software available to create voice fakes; however, they tend not to be as convincing.
Deepfake technology offers many useful applications, yet there remains significant cause for alarm regarding its potential misuse. Some of the more alarming potential misuse scenarios involve defamation, stock manipulation and warfare; for example a fake political figure making comments about an organization could have devastating repercussions for its stock price.
What is a deepfake video?
Deepfakes are digitally created videos that appear real but actually aren’t, alarming governments, researchers, and technology companies because such fake news could be used for fraud, manipulation, revenge or simply to misinform people.
Once it was difficult to create convincing deepfakes. Now with cheap computing power, big data sets, and AI enabling it, creating convincing deepfakes is becoming much simpler. For instance, it would previously take entire studios full of experts a year to produce Paul Walker’s face swapped video for Fast & Furious 7, but now one person sitting in front of a computer could create it!
Though deepfakes pose serious harm, many still create and share them on social media. Some become viral memes; other have more severe implications: celebrities have had their reputations damaged by these posts; they can also sway elections or cause international incidents.
Researchers are taking steps to combat deepfakes by creating technology that can detect when videos are fake, using examples of real videos and deepfakes as training data to train computers to know what is real or fake. It can be challenging, however, to create a system which cannot easily be gamed by those creating malicious deepfakes.
Why is this video a deepfake?
Deepfakes can have significant societal and political repercussions. Fake videos made using this technology may distort democratic discourse; manipulate elections; undermine trust in institutions; threaten public safety and national security, damage reputations or undermine journalism altogether.
Warning signs can help identify whether a video is fake. Facial morphing and image blending are two indicators, as is when someone does not blink when speaking or fails to blink naturally when reacting. A lack of eye movement is another telltale sign.
While deepfakes on social media tend to be used for entertainment, they can also be employed to spread disinformation or support propaganda campaigns. Fake content can become harder and harder to detect on these platforms due to artificial intelligence advances which allow more sophisticated editing options with deeper, more realistic edits becoming possible.
Facebook was co-founded by Mark Zuckerberg, which has experienced many setbacks such as data breaches and misinformation being spread online. Yet despite these obstacles, Mark and his wife Priscilla remain committed to raising their daughters Maxima Chan Zuckerberg and August Chan Zuckerberg in an upbringing that promotes responsibility through screen time limits and encouraging chore completion. They’re also heavily involved in philanthropy efforts with an aim of alleviating some of society’s biggest issues.
What is the purpose of this video?
Facebook has faced several controversies in recent years, ranging from privacy issues to harmful content on its platform and allegations of sexual harassment from both employees and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.
Though Facebook has experienced its fair share of challenges, it remains one of the world’s most widely used social media sites. Credited with helping connect and share information as well as foster entrepreneurial activity, the company continues to thrive today.
Zuckerberg holds multiple business interests outside of Facebook. He has invested in multiple other firms such as Oculus VR and Lyft. Furthermore, he is known for donating millions to various causes through various donations he makes annually.
Recently, he has been prioritizing his personal life by cutting back work hours. Together with wife Priscilla Chan and two daughters Maxima and August, they are making sure that family time takes priority over screen time while doing chores together as a family to foster responsibility and learning skills.
Zuckerberg intends to explore immersive experiences such as virtual reality in the near future, and has even renamed his company Meta to reflect this vision. Meta is currently developing haptic gloves which will enable users to feel textures and pressure when touching virtual objects.