If you haven't heard, deepfakes are edited videos where celebrity faces are put onto another actors bodies. These videos are created using artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. Check out this deepfake GIF of Emma Watson:
That's not actually Emma Watson but it sure is convincing!
At first this face swapping technology was only available to people with strong computer knowledge but thanks to the invention of the Fake App anyone with a good GPU and a lot of time on their hands can create one. Most people are using the technology to put their favourite celebrity's face onto porn stars bodies but some people have been swapping faces just for laughs as well.
Check out this short compilation of Nicholas Cage Deepfakes:
As you can see some fakes turn out better than others but overall this technology seems pretty convincing. Convincing enough that many celebrities are not happy about this at all. This all started as a subreddit thread (NSFW) with many people posting links to their uploads on places such as Gfycat or Pornhub. More recently however Pornhub and Gyfcat have both started removing these video's claiming "Digitally generated deepfakes are non-consentual." Even Reddit is removing the pornographic content to some extent as well.
How Do You Know What's Real Anymore?
Here is an in depth youtube video discussing the technology you only need to watch the first 5 minutes:
The implications of this technology are limitless. Soon enough it will be almost impossible to tell what is fake and what is real. People will be able to generate fake video's to use as alibis as well as fakes being generated to frame people for crimes they didn't commit. A similar program is being used to sync lips using only audio files. Soon people will be creating fake news stories and dubbing them onto officials faces creating a whole new era of fake news.
Check out this lip syncing technology being used on Obama's face:
What do you think these technologies will be used for going into the future? Are you at all concerned that this technology will be taken to far? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading and don't forget to Upvote, Re-steem and Follow. Also, here is a bonus link to a collection of celebrity deepfake porn gifs. (Very NSFW)