The Rise of Deepfake: Understanding Its Implications, Ethics & Mitigation Plan

How many of us remember the 2021 video ‘This is Not Morgan Freeman,’ on YouTube asking us to question reality? Or the 2019 video supposedly featuring Mark Zuckerberg claiming to have complete ‘control of billions of people’s stolen data’? Lots of us. Many experts worry about how these AI-enhanced videos or Deepfakes can be used to create fake digital identities and mislead people to new levels of believability and viral reach.

They’re not wrong.

Recently, two Indian film actresses were victims of Deepfake and these two are not the only ones. According to Reuters, in 2023, about 500,000 video and voice Deepfakes will be shared on social media around the world. Regardless of the purpose- whether for mischief or malice, today’s advanced technology has made it easier for even non-experts to use it. Using open-source AI tools, anyone can make “Deepfake”—highly realistic fake images and videos—with a few clicks. Though, eventually these videos are rejected as ‘shams,’ the damage is done.

The situation is further worsened by the recent advancements in the field of generative AI. As internet users face the grim reality of misinformation and fake content online. So, how businesses and society in general can tackle this challenge? Are these Deepfake wrong for us or is there a sliver of hope? Let’s understand what Deepfake is, its impact on people, and how businesses can overcome challenges created by Deepfake.

The Rise of Deepfake Technology: What You Need to Know

What is Deepfake? Why does it feel so dangerous? Is it that bad?

If you’re wondering about these then let’s help you understand about this technology. Deepfake is a combination of the words ‘deep learning’ and ‘fake.’ They’re the byproduct of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning. It utilizes the Generative Adversarial Networks GAN) architecture and Autoencoders (AI neural networks that are trained to reconstruct input from a simpler representation.) In this, two AI algorithms are pitted against each other. While one GAN creates a manipulated image, the other one works to detect whether the generated image is fake or not. This process continues until the latter cannot differentiate between the real and the false dataset.

In simpler terms, both ML and AI utilize readily accessible images or facial data and audio clips to create fake, yet real-looking videos or images featuring an individual in situations that never actually happened. These videos or images are often made on high-end computers that deploy power graphics cards to process and create replicas of original content. The quality of the video or audio can be more realistic and high-quality if more data is fed to the algorithm. That’s why it’s easier to generate a Deepfake of public figures and celebrities. As they already have lots of data available online in the form of videos, images, interviews, or even speeches.

Deepfake is Not Photo and Video Editing, It’s Much More Dangerous

Common types of Deepfakes include:

• Face swapping: the face of one person is swapped with a different person
• Lip-sync: taking a video of a person speaking and then changing the person’s lip movements to match a different audio track
• Puppet-master: it’s similar to Photoshop but more advanced. The algorithm swaps a person’s body in an image and replaces that with another person’s body in the same photo. Thus, hijacking people’s entire bodies and animating them to their choice.

Notably, recent breakthroughs in AI services and apps have brought intuitive UI and drag-and-drop functionality—a deviation from hard-core coding. On one hand, these innovations empower organizations with powerful capabilities like faster AI implementations in businesses. On the other hand, there’s a downside that these technologies are being used for malicious intentions.

So, now let’s delve into the ethical implications of Deepfake and outline seven crucial steps that businesses can take to mitigate potential risks.

Understanding the Ethical Landscape

• Misinformation and Manipulation: Creators utilize Deepfake technology to make convincing fake videos or audio recordings, leading to the spread of misinformation, and manipulation of public opinion. Thus it has the potential to damage reputations, scam people, and create conflicts. At the same time, some of these manipulated videos, audio, or images equally threaten freedom of expression.
• Privacy and Cybersecurity Concerns: It's a serious concern that the technology can superimpose a person's face onto another person's body or manipulate their voice. Individuals may not only find themselves featured in inappropriate or compromising situations without any idea. Moreover, business and governing bodies create, collect, and store volumes of personal information such as images for driver’s licenses that may become subjects of data breaches.
• Fraud and Identity Theft: Since Deepfake technology utilizes crucial data of individuals such as names, faces, or voices, it poses a great threat and can be incredibly dangerous. Individuals with ill intent can misuse Deepfakes to impersonate others, leading to fraudulent activities and identity theft. Even Banks, businesses and the general public could fall victim to scams or other irreparable harm like financial or reputational damages.
• Impacts on Trust: These hyper-realistic media products are threatening to blur the line between what is real and what is not.  There are plenty of instances where Deepfakes have been identified, including fraud, extortion, and political disinformation. This erosion of trust is going to make it difficult to see any positive in the advancement of artificial intelligence. Though social media has started to screen these kinds of videos it is only able to catch "two-thirds," of them. The mistrust may have significant consequences, especially in the context of news, politics, and public discourse.

Deepfake Technology: Implications for Businesses

• Reputation damage: Imagine a Deepfake video showing your business dumping oil in the ocean. You've invested years in building your brand and reputation. Such fabricated videos or audio can have devastating consequences.
• Financial fraud: Scams or fraudulent activity using Deepfakes isn't new. It can be used to impersonate executives requesting funds, confidential information, or financial transactions.
• Misleading stakeholders: Misinformation or disinformation in this fake content can potentially affect your brand's credibility, user loyalty, and stock prices of the organization.

How to Identify and Mitigate the Growing Deepfake Attacks: 7 Key Steps

As a society, we navigate the dark side of Deepfake, its business’s collective responsibility to uphold and implement ethical standards and proactively mitigate potential risks. So, let’s discuss how businesses can fortify their defenses and help create a digital landscape that values integrity and trust.

• Invest in Deepfake Detection Technology

There's an immediate need for advanced technologies that can detect and identify Deepfake content as quickly as they can happen. Businesses need to invest in sophisticated detection tools to fortify their defenses against malicious manipulation or fabricated content in any form like videos, images, or audio.

• Employee Training Programs

Organizations need to prepare their workforce to be more vigilant against existing risks of Deepfake. Comprehensive training programs not only educate employees on the ethical, legal, or societal challenges of such fake content but also equip them with the necessary skills to recognize and report potential instances.

• Secure Communication Channels

At times Deepfakes content infringes communication channels and gets shared across the organizations. To avoid such scenarios, prioritize the security of these mediums to protect or prevent them against dissemination of manipulated content. Security measures such as implementing encryption and authentication tools ensure the integrity of business communications.

• Clear Communication Policies

Setting up clear and specific communication policies regarding the use of AI-generated content. As this transparency across the communication mediums builds trust, and by conveying openly about the technologies employed, businesses can foster a relationship of honesty and trust among their audience.

• Regular Cybersecurity Audits

Due to the nature of how Deepfake creates data and privacy concerns, it's imperative to conduct regular security audits to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities across the communication channels. Adopting a proactive approach to these cybersecurity challenges makes sure that you're well-prepared to face emerging threats posed by Deepfake.

•  Implement Incident Response Strategy

For businesses, Deepfake isn’t a problem to tackle with technology, it requires a cultural shift, legal expertise, public relations assistance, and inclusion in incident response plans. Businesses must have a comprehensive incident response plan that has directions to take in case of a Deepfake incident. From monitoring social media channels, and forensics techniques to algorithms that can detect AI-generated content, all this empowers you to react to any Deepfake incident. After all, timely action can minimize damage both financial and reputational.

•  Advocate for Ethical AI Practices

To present your business as a Thought leader, you must implement and advocate for ethical AI practices. start by attending discussions and initiatives related to ethical AI implementation. In addition, when you support and adhere to ethical guidelines, you contribute to the established industry standards that prioritize responsible AI development and implementation in business.

How To Spot a Deepfake in 2023?

Despite how real Deepfakes create videos, images, or audio, it's not that difficult to detect if someone said or did not. However, there's no single tell-tale sign of how to spot a fake. Nonetheless, there is much-fabricated content that can be easily flagged as Deepfake. So remember these points:

• Pay attention to the face. High-end Deepfake manipulations are almost always facial transformations.
• Pay attention to the cheeks and forehead. Does the skin appear too smooth or too wrinkly? Is the agedness of the skin similar to the agedness of the hair and eyes? Deepfakes may be incongruent on some dimensions.
• Pay attention to the eyes and eyebrows. Do shadows appear in places that you would expect? Deepfakes may fail to fully represent the natural physics of a scene.
• Utilize authentication method to detect voice Deepfake
• Pay attention to the facial hair or lack thereof. Does this facial hair look real? Deepfakes might add or remove a mustache, sideburns, or beard. However, Deepfakes may fail to make facial hair transformations fully natural.
• Pay attention to blinking. Does the person blink enough or too much?
• Pay attention to the lip movements. Some deepfakes are based on lip-syncing. Do the lip movements look natural?

Wrapping Up

Deepfake technology is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it holds the potential to revolutionize entertainment, education, and more, while on the other, it also poses ethical and societal challenges. As a result, the impacts of Deepfake technology are far-reaching, affecting not just the general audience but also impacting users' aversion to embracing future technology. However, it’s concerning the way such an advanced and full of potential technology artificial intelligence is misused for malicious intent. Though efforts are taken to mitigate the ethical, legal, and societal challenges Deepfake presents, it's a continuous upheaval task as the technology evolves rapidly.

Deepfakes are not that a threat if used responsibly. Society in general, must ensure that AI technology or any other advanced technology remains a force for good in this rapidly evolving digital landscape. Therefore, when creators, even businesses, adopt a thoughtful and ethical approach, the potential of Deepfake technology is immense for artistic expression. So to ensure that there remains a balance between technological advancement and artistic expression, responsible use is key.