{"id":1132,"date":"2019-03-26T09:22:58","date_gmt":"2019-03-26T14:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/?p=1132"},"modified":"2019-05-02T14:59:09","modified_gmt":"2019-05-02T19:59:09","slug":"deep-fakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/blog\/2019\/03\/26\/deep-fakes\/","title":{"rendered":"Deep Fakes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Until recently, photographs, video, and audio were considered a trusted form of communication and storytelling.<\/p>\n

Then, photo editing technology and software was developed and photos were no longer considered to be fully trusted.<\/p>\n

Some photographs have been altered so well it\u2019s almost impossible to tell.<\/p>\n

But videos can\u2019t be faked, right? Wrong.<\/p>\n

New technology is proving that to be false.<\/p>\n

Deep fake technology has been developed to superimpose someone\u2019s face onto another\u2019s.<\/p>\n

According to the computer science department chair at Winona State University, Mingrui Zhang, the idea behind the technology has been around for more than ten years.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s mostly been used for entertainment purposes such as the popular children\u2019s movie Toy Story.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt uses generative adversarial network (GAN) which is based on neural network algorithms,\u201d Zhang said. \u201cIt is like any unsupervised neural network it learns from the subjects.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to a research paper by Robert Chesney, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law, and Danielle Citron, a professor at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, \u201cHarmful lies are nothing new. But the ability to distort reality has taken an exponential leap forward with \u2018deep fake\u2019 technology. This capability makes it possible to create audio and video of real people saying and doing things they never said or did.\u201d<\/p>\n

This technology could pose as a threat to privacy and security, according to Zhang.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may bring up legal and ethical concerns,\u201d Zhang said. \u201cThose are also what computing education society is facing. The social implication of technology,\u201d<\/p>\n

Much like on the social media app, Snapchat, there is a feature that maps out a user\u2019s face and can put photos of friends faces or other filters onto a user\u2019s face.<\/p>\n

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Snapchat is similar to deep fake technology. Flaws can be detected rather quickly and the users can tell it isn\u2019t someone else.<\/p>\n

With deep fake technology, it is more complex but the results are better.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, you want actor B to behave like actor A,\u201d Zhang said. \u201cYou take video of actor A, the software will analyze the video and construct the skeleton of A, and A\u2019s motion. In filming, wrapping the skeleton of A with the skin of actor B will make the audience think that B is in action. That\u2019s how AVATAR was made, but the process is too expensive for average person. But with help of a machine learning algorithm like GAN, faking is possible for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

An issue where deep fake technology arose was in the porn industry. Users of the technology were placing celebrities faces onto others in porn videos.<\/p>\n

This is an issue of consent and the well-being of those celebrities. They did not give permission to have their faces in those videos.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeep fakes make them available to average person. It started for entertainment, could be used to fake someone\u2019s action who has never committed,\u201d Zhang said.<\/p>\n

Chesney and Citron wrote more on the effects of deep fakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeep fakes have characteristics that ensure their spread beyond corporate or academic circles. For better or worse, deep-fake technology will diffuse and democratize rapidly,\u201d wrote Chesney and Citron. \u201c. . . technologies\u2014even dangerous ones\u2014tend to diffuse over time.\u201d<\/p>\n

With that in mind, the porn industry may not be the only industry that is affected as it is hard to contain this type of technology.<\/p>\n

Chesney and Citron also wrote about how deep fake technology could affect journalism.<\/p>\n

\u201cMedia entities may grow less willing to take risks in that environment, or at least less willing to do so in timely fashion,\u201d wrote Chesney and Citron. \u201cWithout a quick and reliable way to authenticate video and audio, the press may find it difficult to fulfill its ethical and moral obligation to spread truth.\u201d<\/p>\n