The first deepfakes were generated in 2017 at the University of Washington. The simulation was conducted with former US President Barack Obama speaking about the dangers of information and fake news. The video is fake, its actor and director is Jordan Peele, and it was created from his facial gestures with Obama's facial features. All of this is done through the use of deepfakes.
On the one hand, a new study is now available that explains that faces created by artificial intelligence are not only indistinguishable from real faces but also generate more trust among people. Researchers showed a group of people images of real and digital faces. "We're not saying that all generated images are indistinguishable from a real face, but a significant number of them are," says Sophie Nightingale, professor of psychology at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom and co-author of the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States.
The scientists warn of the dangers of the lack of distinction between real people and deepfakes. "We encourage those developing these technologies to consider whether the associated risks outweigh the benefits. If so, we advise against developing this technology," explains Nightingale.
On the other hand, deepfakes are becoming popular in South Korea. Political campaigns are using this technology to reach new audiences and supporters. This is compounded by the fact that this is a country with high-speed internet. The avatar in question looks almost identical to the candidate, but uses bolder language and jokes created to transform them into memes. This is an attempt to attract young voters who get their information through non-traditional means.