AI The Face Stealer

 Christian Orizabal

AI The Face Stealer

On an ordinary weekday in the summer I decided to watch a video uploaded by a commentator youtuber named penguinz0, also known as Charles White. The topic of the video being about a video that was published, an AI deepfake of him that was released. The main point of the video was how scarily realistic the video was and how Charles himself questioned if it was one of his older videos. A video that is so realistic it makes you yourself even for a second question its authenticity is quite terrifying.

 AI deep fakes are a tool that in recent times have been utilized as a tool for entertainment. Generating videos with some having the intent of being fun and silly for entertainment purposes like making celebrities do silly dances or say funny phrases. In recent times however, we have seen this tool being weaponized in malicious manners with the intent to harm the reputations of others. This issue has become such an issue that even Homeland Security had to release a document titled, “Increasing Threat of Deep Fake Identities” in order to raise awareness to this widespread phenomenon. In the abstract of the document it reads “The threat of Deepfakes and synthetic media comes not from the technology used to create it, but from people’s natural inclination to believe what they see, and as a result deepfakes and synthetic media do not need to be particularly advanced or believable in order to be effective in spreading mis/disinformation.” This widespread use of deep fake videos has only worsened issues relating to identity thefts.

Video or photographic evidence used to be very solid and hard to refute, however we now exist in a time period where these types of things can very easily be fabricated. As mentioned earlier homeland security sees the tool of deep fake being weaponized to harm innocent individuals and are both advanced and believable. These deep fakes are getting harder and harder  to identify, it’s not longer visible with the naked eye to detect the imperfections of the tool. Assistant Professor of Global Media Paromita Pain, discusses how the technology has adapted stating, “In 2018 … deepfake faces didn’t blink like humans do … However, as soon as the study was published, deepfake creators started fixing this, making it even more difficult to detect deepfakes.” The tool is evolving and with it the community that wishes to create malicious videos and attack innocent people. It’s terrifying how we already exist in a time period where someone can find your image online, and use these tools to do as they please to attack your image. With your face on the internet there is no stopping them as there is no protection to your image. The only way in this day and age to be completely safe is to be completely off the internet, but we also exist in a time period where the internet is an important part of everyone’s lives whether that be for news, communication, or even work.

AI has come a long way from the first decent AI generated video that sent people into a frenzy. This technology has rapidly advanced in the past two years and at an alarming rate. This is not a fear of artificial intelligence taking over like how many conversations on AI tend to turn to. This is a fear of the tool of deep fakes falling into the wrong hands and causing widespread identity theft and harm to someone's identity. It was hard enough when you couldn’t believe everything you saw on the internet in text form but now it can be backed up with fabricated images and videos. You can no longer just “do your research” to make your judgment on whether something is real or not. Your judgment is really now based on your own instinct or what you want to

believe.

Works Cited

https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/increasing_threats_of_deepfake_identities_0.pdf

https://buffett.northwestern.edu/documents/buffett-brief_the-rise-of-ai-and-deepfake-technology.pdf

https://www.unr.edu/nevada-today/news/2023/atp-deepfakes

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