Deepfakes – real danger or overblown hype?

Deepfake crisis or overblown hype? Grounded in the WITNESS Deepfakes Rapid Response Force's work as well as global research, this talk examines the real threats of AI-driven audiovisual deception as well as the misuse of "AI" claims to plausibly deny and dismiss factual content. Are anxieties about the impact of deceptive AI justified? Will we soon be unable to distinguish fact from fiction?

Explore the evolving landscape of real-world usage of deepfakes in elections and beyond, in both the Global North and South. How are the capabilities for realistic, deceptive AI evolving with new audio and video techniques? What does this mean when we already have significant challenges in detection in the real world? Even with the current volume and sophistication of fakery, tools and techniques often fall short globally.
In this world where trust in photos, video and audio is under threat, how do we collectively and proactively "fortify the truth" in an increasingly complex information environment

This programme session is supported by Stiftung Mercator. / Dieser Programmpunkt wird durch die Stiftung Mercator unterstützt.