Guest
In the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, President Zelenskyy warned the world that Russia's digital disinformation machinery would create a deep fake of him admitting defeat. By mid-March of 2022, a deep fake of Zelenskyy appeared with just this message. This video was eventually debunked, but not before it spread across social media and appeared briefly on Ukrainian television. Three months later, the mayors of Berlin, Madrid, and Vienna collectively spoke for nearly 30 minutes with a deep-fake version of Kiev Mayor Klitschko, before realizing they were being duped. In addition to adding jet fuel to disinformation campaigns, this new breed of synthetic media also makes it easier to deny reality — the so-called liar's dividend — as seen by the recent baseless claim that video addresses by President Biden are deep fakes deployed to conceal his death. I will discuss how deep fakes are made, how they are being weaponized, and how they can be detected.
