Deepfake

Deepfake (a portmanteau of “deep learning” and “fake”) refers to a technique using deep learning (an artificial intelligence (“AI”) technique) for image synthesis to create falsified videos.  As the technique is becoming more and more sophisticated, one can easily replace a person in an existing video with someone else’s likeness, even with an animal’s face, or manipulate a person’s mouth shapes, all you need is a smart phone and a mobile application.  Those fabricated images and videos appear to be real.

This short video, Maiyahe (original 2003 “Dragostea Din Tei” O-Zone, Romanian) created by a mobile app called Avatarify, was fashionable for a while in Mainland.  (Image source: The Internet)

Deepfake extended its application to sounds.  Nowadays with AI technology, your voice can be mimicked to create different conversations by capturing your voice of 5 seconds.  With deepfake images and sounds, one can fabricate videos that never exist.