Two U.K. artists created a deepfake of Mark Zuckerberg talking about controlling user data. (Photo ... [+]
Topline: Two U.K.-based artists created a deepfake of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to show just how dangerous AI-generated videos can be. Facebook is leaving the video up, sticking to a controversial stance it took when a doctored video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) went viral.
- Artists Bill Posters and Daniel Howe partnered with Israeli startup CannyAI to make a fake video using artificial intelligence (AI) of Zuckerberg giving a speech about controlling people’s data.
- The video was posted on Instagram, but it’s also part of a larger art exhibition in the U.K. called Spectre, which aims to show “how our behaviours are predicted, and influenced, both online and in the voting booth,” according to the installation’s official description.
- The video, first reported by Motherboard, looks eerily realistic, but Zuckerberg’s voice in the video is obviously fake.
Facebook, which owns Instagram, did not immediately respond to request for comment, but Neil Potts, Facebook’s director of public policy, has previously said that Facebook would not take down a fake video of Zuckerberg, Motherboard reported.
Posters and Howe also posted deepfake videos of Kim Kardashian and President Donald Trump as part of the exhibition.
Deepfakes have everyone on alert: Deepfakes are fake videos that show a person saying or doing something they did not. The technique uses a mixture of real footage and artificial intelligence to falsify someone's actions or speech.
As the technology gets better, many are worried that such videos will be used to spread misinformation and propaganda online.
Eventually, users may not even be able to distinguish between what’s real and what’s fake, an alarming prospect for Posters and Howe, who said the art installation is meant to show the “affective power of computational propaganda and the digital influence industry, where notions of truth and free will are not to be relied upon.”
Facebook’s fake news policy is coming under scrutiny: Facebook’s fake news policy has come under fire in recent weeks after the company said it would not remove a manipulated video of Pelosi.
The Pelosi video wasn’t a deepfake like the Zuckerberg one. It didn’t change the content of what Pelosi was saying, but was instead edited using conventional techniques. Still, the episode has highlighted a thorny problem facing Facebook and other social media companies.
Facebook has always said it won’t take down fake news altogether, but instead will demote it in the News Feed and include fact checks around the post. After the doctored video went viral, Pelosi said the episode proved that Facebook executives were “willing enablers” in Russian interference in the 2016 election.
