Understanding the Impact of Deepfake Videos

Imagine not being able to trust what you see or hear when you watch a video online. Deepfakes are manipulated media—video or audio—where a person has been replaced with someone else’s likeness and made to appear as if they said or did something that never happened. Deepfake videos use artificial intelligence and can appear very convincing, even to a trained eye. When used to mislead audiences, deepfake videos can be disastrous. However, they can have useful benefits too—like offering AI-assisted video reshoots. In this introductory course, senior staff instructor Ashley Kennedy offers a useful introduction to the dangers and benefits of deepfake videos. She also provides a high-level overview of deepfake technology and puts forward some tools to identify deepfake videos, as well as suggestions for what to do when you suspect or spot a deepfake video.