Be Mains Ready

Approach

• Briefly explain deep fakes and its significance.
• Discuss some challenges posed by deep fake technology and how it can damage institutions.
• Highlight some measures to overcome these challenges.
• Write a forward looking conclusion.

Introduction

• As access to technology increases, so does the risk of exploitation. Deep Fakes are the digital media (video, audio, and images) manipulated using Artificial Intelligence.
• Deep Fake is a synthetic media in which a person in an existing video/image is replaced with someone else. It uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to manipulate the audio/video that has a tendency to deceive. It has gained attention due to fake news, celebrity pronographic materials etc. that is easily circulated online.
• Deep fakes have evolved from mere annoyance to high stake warfare for creating social discord, increasing polarisation, and in some cases, influencing an election outcome. It allows hyper-realistic digital falsification that can inflict damage to individuals, institutions, businesses and democracy.

Body

Challenges posed by Deep Fake

• Compromises individual’s identity and reputation: Wrong action videos/audio can mislead anyone into believing that action is done by someone who has actually not done it. For example, pornography.
• Misrepresentation of Information and Personalities: Especially in politics that could lead to social engineering.
  
  • For example candidates in elections showcasing that they know more than one language while communicating through social media.
• Risk of Financial frauds: It could also lead to financial frauds thereby creating challenges to the overall financial system.
• Cybercrime: It also presents a threat to secure cyber systems and veracity of online content in the times when the menace of fake news and ill use of social media is rampant.

Dangers Associated With Deep Fake

Deep Fake makes it possible to fabricate media — swap faces, lip-syncing, and puppeteers — mostly without consent and bring threat to psychology, security, political stability, and business disruption.

• New Front of Warfare: A deepfake could act as a powerful tool by a nation-state to undermine public safety and create uncertainty and chaos in the target country.
  
  • Nation-state actors with geopolitical aspirations, ideological believers, violent extremists, and economically motivated enterprises can manipulate media narratives using deepfakes.
  • It can be used by insurgent groups and terrorist organisations, to represent their adversaries as making inflammatory speeches or engaging in provocative actions to stir up anti-state sentiments among people.
• Targeting Women: The malicious use of a deepfake can be seen in pornography, inflicting emotional, reputational, and in some cases, violence towards the individual.
  
  • Pornographic deep fakes can threaten, intimidate, and inflict psychological harm and reduce women to sexual objects. Deepfake pornography majorly targets women.
• Damage to Personal Reputation: Deepfake can depict a person indulging in antisocial behaviours and saying vile things.
  
  • These can have severe implications on their reputation, sabotaging their professional and personal life.
  • Even if the victim could debunk the deep fake, it may come too late to remedy the initial harm.
  • Further, Deepfakes can be deployed to extract money, confidential information, or exact favours from individuals.
• Undermining Democracy: A deepfake can also aid in altering the democratic discourse and undermine trust in institutions and impair diplomacy.
  
  • False information about institutions, public policy, and politicians powered by a deepfake can be exploited to spin the story and manipulate belief.
• Disrupting Electioneering: A deepfake of a political candidate can sabotage their image and reputation. A well-executed one, a few days before polling, of a political candidate spewing out racial epithets or indulging in an unethical act can damage their campaign.
  
  • A high-quality deepfake can inject compelling false information that can cast a shadow of illegitimacy over the voting process and election results.
  • Leaders can also use them to increase populism and consolidate power.
  • Deep fakes can become a very effective tool to sow the seeds of polarisation, amplifying division in society, and suppressing dissent.

Way Forward

• Enhancing Media Literacy: Media literacy for consumers and journalists is the most effective tool to combat disinformation and deep fakes.
  
  • Improving media literacy is a precursor to addressing the challenges presented by deepfakes.
  • Media literacy efforts must be enhanced to cultivate a discerning public.
  • As consumers of media, they must have the ability to decipher, understand, translate, and use the information.
  • Even a short intervention with media understanding, learning the motivations and context, can lessen the damage.
• Need for Regulation: Meaningful regulations with a collaborative discussion with the technology industry, civil society, and policymakers can facilitate disincentivizing the creation and distribution of malicious deep fakes.
• Technological Interventions: There is also a need for easy-to-use and accessible technology solutions to detect deep fakes, authenticate media, and amplify authoritative sources.
• Behavioural Change: On the part of society, to counter the menace of deep fakes, there is a need to take the responsibility to be a critical consumer of media on the Internet, think and pause before sharing on social media, and be part of the solution to this infodemic.

Conclusion

It’s important that credibility of the online content remains intact so that above-mentioned challenges do not compromise their integrity. Hence measures like detection of the source of media using blockchain, better monitoring and reporting mechanism for online content backed by robust laws like Deepfakes Accountability Act of USA and vigilante administration like that of Chinese in cyberspace is utmost important.