Wrapping Up

Today, I conclude my blog dedicated to teaching you about deepfake media. Over the last eight weeks, I covered: 

• What is a deepfake?

• How are deepfakes made?

• How can you spot a deepfake?

• What happens when we can’t recognize deepfakes?

• How is Facebook combatting deepfakes?

• Should we panic about deepfakes?

• Deepfake...alcohol?

• Holly+: vocal deepfake tool

If you were unfamiliar with deepfake media and technology before this semester, I hope that you learned a good deal from reading my blogs. As a forewarning, deepfakes and the technology used to create them are still relatively new, so it is almost guaranteed that the information I presented does not fully encapsulate what there is to know about deepfakes.

For now, we can be certain that “deepfake” refers to any media created to depict fake events and/or incidents, that convincing deepfakes are currently very difficult to make, that social media platforms are attempting to prevent the posting of malicious deepfakes, and that we need not panic about deepfakes. 

Perhaps the most important information covered was how to spot a deepfake. Major flaws that identify deepfake media include faces appearing like a mask, distorted facial features, and unnatural movement (mainly of the eyes and lips). Minor flaws include videos with no blinking eyes, lighting not matching between a face and its body, and a lack of individual strands of hair and/or individual teeth. It’s important to also remember that deepfake media are neither inherently good nor bad and that the use of deepfakes determines whether they are good or bad. 

To conclude: be aware, but not wary. Thank you for reading my blogs; I hope that you’ve enjoyed them!