The only commentary I can offer on this is mwwwwwwaaaaaaarrrghhhh.
A researcher who created a fake video of President Obama has defended his invention at the latest TED talks. The clip shows a computer-generated version of the former US leader mapped to fit an audio recording. Experts have warned the tech involved could spark a "political crisis". Dr Supasorn Suwajanakorn acknowledged that there was a "potential for misuse". But, at the Vancouver event, he added the tech could be a force for good.
Dr Suwajanakorn acknowledged that "fake videos can do a lot of damage" and needed an ethical framework. "The reaction to our work was quite mixed. People, such as graphic designers, thought it was a great tool. But it was also very scary for other people," he told the BBC.
It could offer history students the chance to meet and interview Holocaust victims, he said [what ? no it can't]. Another example would be to let people create avatars of dead relatives [oh yes, similarly wonderful]. Experts remain concerned that the technology could create new types of propaganda and false reports.
"Fake news tends to spread faster than real news as it is both novel and confirms existing biases," said Dr Bernie Hogan, a senior research fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute. "Seeing someone make fake news with real voices and faces, as seen in the recent issue about deepfakes, will likely lead to a political crisis with associated calls to regulate the technology."
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43639704
Historical revisionists in possession of this toolset are utterly certain to vandalise the past for their own selfish purposes...
ReplyDeleteWhat could possibly go wrong? :-O
ReplyDeleteThis is one of those things where blaming the inventor is just irrelevant. If it can be done, it will be, if not by him them by Hollywood. The authority of video is over, like that of photography (it never existed anyway). At least now (some) people will know that.
ReplyDeleteAlso deep philosophical idiocy like "it can let you meet Holocaust survivors" seems to get trotted out regularly with these sorts of technologies. For the sake of my sanity I interpret this as the simple recycling of discourses because the speaker doesn't know what to say/how to argue, the same way health gets roped into people's arguments about everything from pop videos to buildings they don't like.
ReplyDeleteAlso also Jonathan Swift neatly dealt with the question of "what if you could chat with famous people from history" in Gulliver's Travels. It turns out you take away what you want to see anyway.