Deepfakes are still new, but 2024 could be the year they have an impact on elections

As technology has advanced, AI-generated deepfakes have become more convincing, says disinformation researcher Eileen Culloty.

Disinformation caught many people off guard during the 2016 Brexit referendum and US presidential election. Since then, a mini-industry has developed to analyse and counter it.

Yet despite that, we have entered 2024 - a year of more than 40 elections worldwide - more fearful than ever about disinformation. In many ways, the problem is more challenging than it was in 2016.

Advances in technology since then are one reason for that, in particular the development that has taken place with synthetic media, otherwise known as deepfakes. It is increasingly difficult to know whether media has been fabricated by a computer or is based on something that really happened.

I suppose it’s a variation on Moore’s Law. Every two years the quality of deepfakes doubles. But of course there has to be an upper limit (perfection). Are we there yet? No. But soon we will be.

On a related note, here’s a famous deepfake. It’s actor Steve Buscemi’s face on Jennifer Lawrence‘s body. Nicely done, eh?

This is possibly a glorious development.

For a LONG time, the MSM has a monopoly on dissemination of the news. And the lies.

CNN sort of broke the back of the Big Three. They were assimilated by the MSM Borg, but the possibility of competition that MADE MONEY became reality.

Nowadays, scores of outlets push “news.” A lot of them are good, and a lot of them are crap. The MSM has pushed “concern” about misinformation etc. in an effort to maintain an increasingly desparate grasp on the public as the Defenders of Truth. We get idiots like Brandy Zadrozny who position themselves as misinformation experts who, in reality, are fronts for Liars, Inc.

https://freerepublic.com/tag/brandyzadrozny/index

Now, we get deepfakes and all the assorted GenAI nonsense. Guess what? Your average American feels like they can’t trust ANYTHING they see on the interweb OR CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, NPR, and all the other losers.

The MSM is now held in the same regard as Gateway Pundit, Air America (RIP) and Democracy Now, and Saturday Night Live. The only supporters of the MSM are leftists who think we care what they think..

Americans now do their OWN due diligence, and has their go-to trustworthy sources…AND the skills to smell a rat.

…and the journalists can’t even learn to code. Woo hoo!!

I agree. With the deep fake technology now available I expect to see ‘actual video’ of PDJT feeling up a female campaign staffer or some other ridiculous scenario. And as you say the video will be the lead story for days until it is certified as a AI creation and totally fake. But by then millions of 2-digit IQ morons will have seen it but most likely will not see the retraction.

It unfortunate that everyone is allowed to vote ...

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