Deepfakes and Artificial Intelligence: PSYOP’s Now Frontier

We are still caught in the grip of the Covid-19 Pandemic and many of us are tethered to our computers. Whether its remote working or online education, Netflix or FaceBook – we’re checking out all sorts of material. Naturally much of it is video based.

I have posted about the attraction of video and how smartphones are a key international delivery vehicle for video on Social Media and elsewhere.

If you ever tried to produce your own video like I have for my online training courses, you know it is a labor and time intensive process. If you are trying to produce a commercial grade product, this can be time consuming, expensive and daunting.

 

Enter artificial intelligence and the concept of deepfakes. CNBC defined deepfakes as “Deepfakes refer to manipulated videos, or other digital representations produced by sophisticated artificial intelligence, that yield fabricated images and sounds that appear to be real.” (see: https://cnb.cx/3eTzDGE which is a photo source).

 

Wired magazine July 7, 202 ran an article “Deepfakes Are Becoming the Hot New Corporate Training Tool” (see: https://bit.ly/2WDP0wh, which is also a photo source). The rationale is that it is cheaper to produce ‘synthetic’ videos than ‘real ones’.

Just as you can buy click art or images for reuse, you can acquire AI content and tools. The article talks about one company, Rosebud AI (another photo source) will provide you with virtual models. I hope some of you at least appreciate the Orson Welle’s reference here, if not then checkout: https://bit.ly/32GYACu.

Of course, creative types, like PSYOPers could integrate real and synthetic material. With the recent unrest across the country, police body camera footage could provide a great source of material for our adversaries. Wondering about how to get police bodycams – check out: Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (see: https://bit.ly/2WDJHgi, another photo source).

Bodycams could provide the kind of shocking footage that adversaries love to use to show what America is really about. A simple Google search will yield quite a few samples like this one: https://bit.ly/32CegXA.

Of course, if the bodycam footage isn’t dramatic enough – you can always make your own deepfake.

As always reader comments encouraged.

Take good care out there!