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Zusammenfassung von Deepfakes and the Infocalypse

Name: Deepfakes and the Infocalypse
Rating: 3.8 (113 reviews)
Author: Nina Schick

Nina Schick

What You Urgently Need To Know

3.8 (113 Bewertungen)

23 Min.

Kurz zusammengefasst

'Deepfakes and the Infocalypse' by Nina Schick explores the dangers of AI-generated digital content. The book looks at the potential impact on politics, society, privacy, and national security, and offers solutions for combating the spread of misinformation and fake news.

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Deepfakes and the Infocalypse
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What’s in it for me? A desperate warning about the current information crisis.

There’s a YouTube video of President Obama sitting on a mahogany chair in the Oval Office. He’s staring straight into the camera. His proclamation is solemn. “How we move forward in the Age of Information is going to be the difference between whether we survive or become some fucked-up dystopia.”

Except that Obama never actually said that.

So what’s going on? Well, this video is a shockingly sophisticated deepfake. Its creators used artificial intelligence to manipulate reality to produce an entirely believable – and completely unreal – new world.

Sadly, the warning that fake Obama is delivering may be too little, too late. We are already living in what the author calls the “Infocalypse,” an ecosystem of “dangerous and untrustworthy information.” Deepfakes will only exacerbate the problem. It is essential that we protect ourselves against the perils that deepfakes and the Infocalypse pose – before it’s too late.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

how deepfakes originated on Reddit;
how deepfake porn was used to silence a journalist; and
how a tiny Baltic country fought back against cyber warfare.

Photo, video, and audio manipulation have become easy thanks to AI.

In the nineteenth century, humans invented photography. For the first time, we could capture a true, seemingly incontrovertible slice of reality. But very soon, it became clear that “reality” could be not only captured, but also manipulated.

At first, altering photos was a painstaking process. Over time, though, it became simpler. Now, anyone can do it – just download a free app. As a result, we’ve become used to the idea that photos can be altered and know to look out for any retouching or editing.

But aren’t audio and video different? Surely they can’t be convincingly faked, right? In fact, new developments in artificial intelligence confirm quite the opposite.

The key message here is: Photo, video, and audio manipulation have become easy thanks to AI.

AI - or artificial intelligence - is software that processes information through deep learning. It enables AI to make decisions autonomously, based on what it’s “learned” after crunching large amounts of data. The term “deepfake” is derived from this “deep learning,” plus – for obvious reasons – the word “fake.”

The first deepfakes showed how AI can swap a person’s face into an existing video. They were posted on the website Reddit by an anonymous user.

Before long, they were attracting some worrying attention. In late 2017, a journalist named Samantha Cole published an article called “AI-Assisted Fake Porn is Here, and We’re All Fucked.” Her story warned of a Reddit forum full of deepfake porn. Its founder used AI to swap the faces of Hollywood celebrities onto the bodies of porn stars.

Deepfake porn is non-consensual, deeply embarrassing, and demeaning. And it doesn’t matter how rich you are – there’s nothing you can do to wipe it off the internet. Even Scarlett Johansson, the highest-paid actress in Hollywood, couldn’t protect her own name from it.

The fake porn forum on Reddit was eventually taken down. But its creator shared the code that he’d used to make the deepfakes. Now, there’s a whole suite of free tools and software out there, open to anyone who wants to produce their own deepfakes.

Sounds horrifying, doesn’t it? But this is all just the tip of the iceberg. Deepfake technology is continuing to improve. Soon, it may become literally impossible to tell when an image, video, or audio clip is fake. This technology is already leading us down a dark path of mis- and disinformation.

Russia is the master of information warfare.

People tend to use the terms “misinformation” and “disinformation” interchangeably. But there is an important difference. Misinformation is something that’s simply wrong, whereas disinformation is purposely intended to mislead people.

Various countries engage in disinformation campaigns. But the undisputed master of this type of warfare is Russia.

The Infocalypse is threatening Western democracies, most notably that of the US.

Democracies around the world are experiencing a crisis of trust. A 2018 global survey revealed shocking figures: 64 percent of people who lived in democracies felt their government “rarely” or “never” acted in the interest of the public. But there’s another surprise from the same study. In non-democratic countries, that number was much lower – only 41 percent.

This crisis of trust has a figurehead: US President Donald Trump.

The Infocalypse has deadly consequences in countries with less robust democracies.

The Infocalypse is a problem for the whole world – not just the West. If mis- and disinformation are harmful for democracies, think about what they could do to countries where freedom of speech is limited, and the rule of law is nonexistent.

In 2019, the human rights organization Witness asked journalists and activists from Brazil, South Africa, and Malaysia how they felt about the threat of deepfakes. Their answers were strikingly similar; all agreed that their own governments were far more dangerous than foreign states.

In the future, more scammers will use deepfakes to defraud businesses and individuals.

In 2016, a group of con men successfully stole 50 million euros from various business magnates and leaders across the world. The criminals used fake personas. One of them posed as French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. The technology was surprisingly simple: a silicone mask bearing Le Drian’s likeness.

One con man put on the mask and sat behind a desk. A French flag hung in the background. Then, he and his cronies made a series of video calls to wealthy individuals, asking them to fund secret French government missions.

State actors have been spreading disinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has sent shockwaves across the world. It has taken countless lives, devastated economies, and dramatically transformed our day-to-day routines. But the disease hasn’t just affected people. It has also hit our information ecosystem.

One country that’s been exploiting the pandemic to spread disinformation is – you guessed it – Russia. Much like it did with AIDS and “Operation Infektion,” Russia has also promoted a conspiracy about the novel coronavirus.

Fighting the Infocalypse will involve both a reactive and a proactive approach.

It’s clear that the Infocalypse presents an imminent danger to societies all around the world. But what can each of us do to fight it?

Well, we can start by recognizing just how serious the problem is. You've already taken a first step by reading these blinks.

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Worum geht es in Deepfakes and the Infocalypse?

Deepfakes and the Infocalypse (2020) is an urgent warning about the dangers posed by fake – but extremely realistic – audiovisual material called deepfakes. They are powered by artificial intelligence, and scammers and hackers are already using them to defraud businesses and harass individuals. Governments are joining in, as well; the use of deepfakes for propaganda is growing. We need to actively prepare for a time when deepfakes become commonplace. If we don’t, we’ll barrel headfirst into an information apocalypse.

Wer Deepfakes and the Infocalypse lesen sollte

Anyone who hasn’t heard of deepfakes
Citizens concerned about political polarization and the breakdown of trust in society
Tech-savvy individuals who feel they can’t be fooled by fake content

Über den Autor

Nina Schick is a political consultant, broadcaster, and author who focuses on the intersection between technology and politics. Formerly, she served as the Communications Director of Open Europe – a think tank dedicated to EU reform. Schick is a contributor to Bloomberg, Sky, CNN, and the BBC, and her work has been published by CNN, the Times, and the Sunday Telegraph.

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