Deepfakes have always intrigued and scared me a bit. First lets start with the obvious question; What exactly is a Deepfake? A deepfake is what is called a portmanteau, a word comprised of a blend of sounds and meanings to make a single word. In the case of deepfake its is a blending of “Deep Learning” and “Fake”(Reed, 2020). Deepfakes have been used for a few years now through videos, audio recordings and of course photographs and are created via artificial intelligence which goes hand in hand with machine learning. Which is where the “deep learning” part comes into play.
Through movies and TV shows deepfakes have been stigmatized because of its manipulative aspects. I tend to watch a lot of shows such as Criminal Minds, FBI (in all it’s iterations), CSI and NCIS so the subject of deepfakes have come up a number of times for me but never really painted in a light that is pleasing. Especially now when apps such as Reface have been created and while, yes, I get the appeal of these apps, it’s terrifying at the same time. Because while these things can be used for good, lets face it, there is no guarantee that they will be. Especially with TV shows and movies putting ideas in peoples heads of nefarious ways it can be used.
So while we all can imagine plenty of scenarios where a deepfake can be used for manipulation and lies can anyone think of some ways that they can be used for good?
My two examples are different but nevertheless are very similar in their outcome as well. Education.
In this video created in April 9, 2019 David Beckham uses a deepfake to replicate the correct lip movements for the multiple languages that are spoken in this video. The aim was obvious and not meant to manipulate but be positive in creating a connection in a diverse audience.
The second method is the one that is near and dear to my heart currently and that is for lessons such as classes and coursework. As I am a government contractor creating coursework I am always looking for new methods to enrich the written material. I believe that something such as this would be a fantastic asset to implement for what I am currently doing. Instead of using bland avatars that are illustrations and dont move in coursework something like Synthesia is compelling and will help students retain the information as it uses real people. That said, I do see some ways that the AI can be improved as they are a bit stiff but it is, in my opinion, an excellent start. Here is one I created with their free demo. Unfortunately the paragraph I submitted was limited in character choice and I couldn't choose the voice or the face but I'm still impressed.
Citations
Reed, N. (2020, December 7). Yes, positive deepfake examples exist. ThinkAutomation. Retrieved November 29, 2022, from https://www.thinkautomation.com/bots-and-ai/yes-positive-deepfake-examples-exist/
DemoVideo was created using the free demo tool on Synthesia.
About the Writer
Hi, I’m Gaël. I was born in Haiti and I am a recently married mother of 1 soon to be adopted little girl. Welcome to The Graphic Alchemist where I mainly talk about design, but I do throw in my opinions on other matters to add some spice. From graphic design to recipes and everything in between. Besides this portfolio/blog I also have a small business called Dyadic Alchemy that I run with my husband. We are both alchemists in are own right and love mixing things up. As the name of the blog suggests, between the two of us, I am the graphic alchemist.
