Deepfakes: keeping it unreal
I have to confess that I’m fascinated by deepfakes; I even use them in my classes and lectures, alternating them with more sophisticated content that requires more careful explanation for the session to fulfill my goals. I will often begin a class with impersonations of public figures via telephone, politicians or celebrities saying things they would never say, or myself singing “Libiamo ne’ lieti calici” from La Traviata, as a way of illustrating how this technology has advanced over the last couple of years to the point that even a simple teacher like me can use it.
By 2020, deepfakes were everywhere, emerging from the darkest corners of the web for all sorts of uses, including memes. As has happened with film technology since the late 19th century, the pornography industry first exploited deepfake’s potential, to the point that Scarlett Johansson, whose image was among the most popular, went so far as to say that it was an absolute waste of time fighting it. We have also seen it used for political ends, with the presidents of Russia and Ukraine announcing martial law or surrender, while an Indian politician has deepfaked himself so as to address all the country’s voters in their respective languages.
In 2022, Bruce Willis, suffering from a language disorder, allegedly signed a contract with a company, Deepcake, for the exploitation of his voice in content such as…
