About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

GAO-20-379SP 1 (2020-02-20)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaeaqq0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Science, Technology Assessment, G A O and Analytics SCIENCE & TECH SPOTLIGHT: DEEPFAKES What is it? A deepfake is a video, photo, or audio recording that seems real but has been manipulated with Al. The underlying technology can replace faces, manipulate facial expressions, synthesize faces, and synthesize speech. Deepfakes can depict someone appearing to say or do something that they in fact never said or did. Deepfakes use different underlying Al technologies-notably autoencoders and generative adversarial networks (GANs). An autoencoder is an artificial neural network trained to reconstruct input from a simpler representation. A GAN is made up of two competing artificial neural networks, one trying to produce a fake, the other trying to detect it. This competition continues over many cycles, resulting in a more plausible rendering of, for example, faces in video. GANs generally produce more convincing deepfakes but are more difficult to use. Researchers and internet companies have experimented with several methods to detect deepfakes. These methods typically also use Al to analyze videos for digital artifacts or details that deepfakes fail to imitate realistically, such as blinking or facial tics. Source: GAO. I GAO-20-379SP Deepfake videos commonly swap faces or manipulate facial expressions. In face swapping, the face on the left is placed on another person's body. In facial manipulation, the expressions of the face on the left are imitated by the face on the right. While deepfakes have benign and legitimate applications in areas such as entertainment and commerce, they are commonly used for exploitation. According to a recent report from the company Deeptrace, much of deepfake content online is pornographic, and deepfake pornography disproportionately victimizes women. Further, there is concern about potential growth in the use of deepfakes for other purposes, particularly disinformation. Deepfakes could be used to influence elections or incite civil unrest, or as a weapon of psychological warfare. They could also lead to disregard of legitimate evidence of wrongdoing and, more generally, undermine public trust in audiovisual content. How does it work? Deepfakes rely on artificial neural networks, which are computer systems modeled loosely on the human brain that recognize patterns in data. Developing a deepfake photo or video typically involves feeding hundreds or thousands of images into the artificial neural network, training it to identify and reconstruct patterns-usually faces. Source: GAO; conceived from DARPA image at https:/lwww.darpa.mil/news-events/2019-09-03a. I GAO-20-379SP Examples of characteristics that may indicate a deepfake. How mature is it? Anyone with basic computer skills and a home computer can create a deepfake. Computer applications are openly available on the internet with tutorials on how to create deepfake videos. However, to develop a somewhat realistic deepfake, these applications generally still require hundreds or thousands of training images of the faces to be swapped or manipulated, making celebrities and government leaders the most common subjects. More convincing deepfakes created with GANs require more advanced technical skills and resources. As artificial neural network technologies have advanced rapidly in parallel with more powerful and abundant computing, so has the ability to produce realistic deepfakes. GAO-20-379SP Deepfakes

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most