We’ve all seen funny memes and videos that were created using AI or other software. They make us laugh and we share them with our friends and family. So, what’s the big deal?
The problem is the main purpose for most deepfakes isn’t just to make us laugh. It’s to trick us into believing something happened that didn’t so that we will behave in the way the person or group behind the fake wants us to. Deepfakes have been used for1:
- Election manipulation
- Manipulate facts about social issues
- Phishing scams
- Data breaches
- Celebrity pornography
- Reputation smearing
- Identity theft
- Financial fraud
- Blackmail
- Automated disinformation attacks
- Hoaxes
Why do Deepfakes Work?
“Deepfakes are effective because of the way they exploit fundamental human traits. The human brain is wired to prioritize visual and auditory cues (sight and sound) when evaluating trustworthiness. When presented with a face or voice that appears authentic, we instinctively lower our guard.”2
Deepfakes related to politics or social issues use messaging the target audience either expects to hear or would not be surprised to hear. Watch this video from Instagram’s theconsciouslee to see what we are talking about.
The clip used by Conscious Lee targeted people on the Left side of the political world. But he could have just as easily used one aimed at people on the Right. Any one of us can be manipulated by deepfakes if we don’t ask questions.
What Can We Do?
When it comes to AI-manipulated media, there’s no single tell-tale sign of how to spot a fake. Nonetheless, there are several Deepfake signs that you can be on the lookout for:3
- Pay attention to the face. High-end DeepFake manipulations are almost always facial transformations.
- Pay attention to the cheeks and forehead. Does the skin appear too smooth or too wrinkly? Is the agedness of the skin similar to the agedness of the hair and eyes? DeepFakes may be incongruent on some dimensions.
- Pay attention to the eyes and eyebrows. Do shadows appear in places that you would expect? DeepFakes may fail to fully represent the natural physics of a scene.
- Pay attention to the glasses. Is there any glare? Is there too much glare? Does the angle of the glare change when the person moves? Once again, DeepFakes may fail to fully represent the natural physics of lighting.
- Pay attention to the facial hair or lack thereof. Does this facial hair look real? DeepFakes might add or remove a mustache, sideburns, or beard. But, DeepFakes may fail to make facial hair transformations fully natural.
- Pay attention to facial moles. Does the mole look real?
- Pay attention to blinking. Does the person blink enough or too much?
- Pay attention to the lip movements. Some deepfakes are based on lip syncing. Do the lip movements look natural?
And keep in mind, AI is always learning and tips that helped earlier this year may not still be effective.
As this video from Whitney Alese, aka thereclaimed on Instagram, explains, checking and rechecking sources is one of the best ways to keep from falling for a fake and sharing mis- or disinformation.
Source checking tips: If every copy of a particular video or clip leads back to one creator’s account, it’s probably a fake. If you see a video of someone doing or saying something that seems absolutely crazy and major news outlets aren’t reporting on it, it’s probably fake.
Get Curious and Stay Curious
The old saying, “Curiosity killed the cat” was about protecting yourself by not asking too many questions. But with today’s technology, being curious about where a video, image or sound bite came from might save you or someone you know from doing or believing something that harms you, them or our community.
Don’t be afraid to ask your friend or auntie where they saw or read the information they’re sharing. And in return, don’t get offended if someone asks you for your sources.
One of our best weapons against deepfakes — and other forms of mis- and disinformation — is to GET CURIOUS and STAY CURIOUS. It’s a way we protect each other
Think you’ve got the skills to spot deepfakes? You might want to try out the “Detect Fakes” experiment, brought to you by Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. To read the instructions and informed consent statement click here. To jump into the experiment, click here.
Footnotes
- Artificial Intelligence and Deepfake Videos: What You Need to Know | Family Services ↩︎
- The Psychology of Deepfakes in Social Engineering ↩︎
- Overview ‹ Detect DeepFakes: How to counteract misinformation created by AI — MIT Media Lab ↩︎
Resources
- Footnote #1 has more tips about spotting fakes.
- Learn more about theconsciouslee: About — The Conscious Lee
- @thereclaimed Lnk.Bio · link in bio
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