Making deepfake porn could soon be as ‘easy as using Instagram filters’, according to expert
DEEPFAKE porn could be as easy to create as using an Instagram filter in the near future, an expert has warned.
Fake porn containing images of celebrities is already plaguing the internet but it may only be a matter of time before the general public are at risk too.
Shamir Allibhai, the CEO of video verification company Amber, told the that creating deepfake porn could soon be very easy.
This could result in an increase in revenge porn cases and wreak havoc on relationships.
Allibhai told the publication: "It will soon be as easy to create a fake as it is to add an Instagram filter and women will be the primary target of the weaponisation of this deepfake technology.
"The havoc is two-fold. At a primary level, relationships will be broken, people will be blackmailed."
He added: "On a deeper level, society will become cynical if we don’t have video veracity solutions in effect.
"We will evolve to become distrusting and view everything with skepticism.
"And when this happens, it will chip at trust among citizens, a foundation of democracies."
Deepfake pornographic videos that have surfaced already include stars such as Scarlett Johansson.
There are also many deepfake videos that aren't porn but which show famous faces such as Donald Trump, Barack Obama and Mark Zuckerberg conversing in a convincing manner even though it isn't really them.
The UK currently has no specific laws about deepfake porn.
Deepfakes – what are they, and how does it work?
Here's what you need to know...
- Deepfakes is a downloadable app that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to produce face-swapped pornos with barely any effort
- To create the videos, users first track down an XXX clip featuring a porn star that looks like an actress
- They then feed an app with hundreds – and sometimes thousands – of photos of the victim's face
- A machine learning algorithm swaps out the faces frame-by-frame until it spits out a realistic, but fake, sex tape
- To help other users create these videos, pervs upload "facesets", which are huge computer folders filled with a celebrity's face that can be easily fed through the "deepfakes" app
- Simon Miles, of intellectual property specialists Edwin Coe, told The Sun that the fake sex tapes could be considered an "unlawful intrusion" into the privacy of a celeb
- He also added that celebrities could request that the content be taken down, but warned: "The difficulty is that damage has already been done
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Earlier this year, Samsung’s ‘deepfake’ video of a talking Mona Lisa painting revealed the terrifying new frontier in fake news.
More recently, Instagram's top boss had to defend his decision not to take down unsettling fake videos of celebrities on the platform.
And, am AI expert recently predicted that digital assistants like Alexa will soon be able to tell when your relationship is on the rocks.
What are your thoughts on deepfake technology? Let us know in the comments...
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