Quietly, I’ve been scared stiff over the last few months about deep fakes. I’m immensely impressed with the technology so far, even as it’s still emerging. Deep fakes are only going to get deeper, so how do we ensure protection against deep fakes.
What’s a ‘deep fake’?
Protection against deep fakes is important. Deep fakes are videos which digitally superimpose a person’s face on top of an impersonation or performance by another. The goal is to deceive the viewer that the person in the video is not the impersonator, but the person they are impersonating. They’re essentially an impression of a person, made all the more convincing with digital enhancements.
In the era of sports team politics, deep fakes are a worrying prospect. If all your uncle on Facebook needs is a lo-res jpeg info-graphic to back up some of his dubious prejudices, imagine what a deep fake will do for the spread of disinformation. Uncle’s share button is going to get more clicks than a poetry slam.
If bad actors are willing to place some online ads that press your buttons until you press that share button, then you’d better get ready for black market impressionists and fake videos appearing in your timeline to do the same, but more effectively.
This doesn’t factor in any efforts big tech will make to counter destructive fakes. Either way, the best protection against deep fakes is education. If the general public can understand them, they can spot them and are therefore immunised from the deep fakes designed to manipulate them.
A Sassy education
Sassy Justice is an all-new web series by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park and The Book of Mormon. It has all the key ingredients of a Parker/Stone brainchild; fake adverts, toilet humour and of course Tom Cruise. But there’s a major new addition: Deep Fakes.
The Sassy Justice web series is fronted by Fred Sassy, a camp voiced consumer rights advocate, bearing the face of Donald Trump. In the opening of the first episode, he declares;
Scammers are finding new ways to take advantage of you, the consumer. Now, with the technology called deep fake, you can get screwed over and lied to in ways never thought possible.
Whether it’s Mark Zuckerberg overcharging for kidney dialysis or President Trump feigning a stroke, Parker and Stone are out to protect us against deep fakes. Here’s the lessons they have for us so far for protection against deep fakes.
Al Gore is cereal about deep fakes
Al Gore tells us deep fakes can be used to put words in peoples mouths to say things they never said. They can fool you and convince you they are real, when they are not. This is why ALL of us, not just Al Gore, need to be cereal about deep fakes.
Ivanka Trump’s Russia conclusion
According to a deeply fake Ivanka Trump, Russia, the worst country in Europe, is the one putting this out there. This isn’t accurate, but we’re all aware of disruption to recent elections through false advertisements on social media. The next logical step in this race to the bottom, is for bad actors to turn to deep fakes.
Mark Zuckerberg’s kidney dialysis side project
Whilst a classic Parker/Stone spoof commercial, perhaps this nods to how deep fakes would lead us to question celebrity endorsements. Furthermore, what if deep fakes lead to falsified celebrity endorsements? Celebrities can attract criticism for endorsements that are perceived as problematic, such as Scarlett Johansson and SodaStream a few years back. What if a falsified celebrity endorsement is used to sully their public image?
Michael Caine says watch with your ears
Inevitably, an impersonation is required to put words into the target’s mouth. According to Sassy Justice, the ‘perfect’ impersonation is not possible and listening closely will reveal the imperfections. This breaks the audio-visual contract that helps make video more convincing. Ignoring the video element and focusing in on only the audio will make deeps fakes easier to identify.
Our responsibilities
All in all, Sassy Justice will help at least one audience get to grips with deep fakes and be ready for the dam that is about to break. I genuinely fear that the integrity of online video is beginning to erode. In the coming age, protection against deep fakes is a must.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone also feel this way as their lead character closes the first episode with a ‘Sassy Second’. They speak directly to us through the Fred Sassy character in the closing seconds;
My friends, things aren’t always what they seem. you have to use your own noodle. You can’t let anyone sell you on anything, not an idea, not a product. We’re all gonna have to trust our gut, that inner voice, it’s all we have now.
It’s a sincere and cautionary message, that we’re all going to have to be come more discerning in the near future. We will all need to become responsible for actively researching, learning and forming our ideas about the world. Furthermore, I’d encourage you to educate your loved ones who should be wary of what they see online, but perhaps won’t be too keen on the humour of Sassy Justice. At least someone is offering protection against deep fakes. Learn more about Sassy Justice and protection against deep fakes on their YouTube channel. Read more posts about the web on my blog.