Mains Practice Questions

Approach

• Start your answer by briefly explaining deep fake technology.
• Discuss its challenges of deepfake technology.
• Suggest some measures to overcome challenges of deepfake technology.
• Conclude accordingly.

Introduction

• Deepfake technology is a method for manipulating videos, images, audios utilizing powerful computers and deep learning.
• It is used to generate fake news and commit financial fraud among other wrong doings.
• It overlays a digital composite over an already-existing video, picture, or audio; cybercriminals use Artificial Intelligence technology.

Body

• Deepfake technology is now being used for nefarious purposes like scams and hoaxes, celebrity pornography, election manipulation, social engineering, automated disinformation attacks, identity theft and financial fraud etc.
• Challenges of Deepfake Technology:
  • Cyber Crime:
    • The potential use of deepfakes is in phishing campaigns, as it would make them more difficult for the individual to detect as a scam.
    • For example, in social media phishing, a faked video of a celebrity could be used to extort money from unwitting victims.
  • Fabricated Media:
    • Deep Fake technology makes it possible to fabricate media like swap faces, lip-syncing, and puppeteers, mostly without consent and bring threat to psychology, security, political stability, and business disruption.
    • Deepfake technology has been used to impersonate notable personalities like former U.S. Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, etc.
  • New Front of Warfare:
    • A deepfake could act as a powerful tool by a nation-state to undermine public safety and create uncertainty and chaos in the target country.
    • Nation-state actors with geopolitical aspirations, ideological believers, violent extremists, and economically motivated enterprises can manipulate media narratives using deepfakes.
    • It can be used by insurgent groups and terrorist organisations, to represent their adversaries as making inflammatory speeches or engaging in provocative actions to stir up anti-state sentiments among people.
  • Undermining Democracy:
    • A deepfake can also aid in altering the democratic discourse and undermine trust in institutions and impair diplomacy.
    • False information about institutions, public policy, and politicians powered by a deepfake can be exploited to spin the story and manipulate belief.
  • Disrupting Electioneering:
    • A deepfake of a political candidate can sabotage their image and reputation. A well-executed one, a few days before polling, of a political candidate spewing out racial epithets or indulging in an unethical act can damage their campaign.
    • A high-quality deepfake can inject compelling false information that can cast a shadow of illegitimacy over the voting process and election results.
    • Leaders can also use them to increase populism and consolidate power.
    • Deepfakes can become a very effective tool to sow the seeds of polarization, amplifying division in society, and suppressing dissent.
• Measures to Overcome Challenges of Deepfake Technology:
  • Enhancing Media Literacy: Media literacy for consumers and journalists is the most effective tool to combat disinformation and deep fakes.
    • Improving media literacy is a precursor to addressing the challenges presented by deepfakes.
    • Media literacy efforts must be enhanced to cultivate a discerning public.
    • As consumers of media, they must have the ability to decipher, understand, translate, and use the information.
    • Even a short intervention with media understanding, learning the motivations and context, can lessen the damage.
  • Need for Regulation: Meaningful regulations with a collaborative discussion with the technology industry, civil society, and policymakers can facilitate disincentivizing the creation and distribution of malicious deep fakes.
  • Technological Interventions: There is also a need for easy-to-use and accessible technology solutions to detect deep fakes, authenticate media, and amplify authoritative sources.
  • Behavioural Change: On the part of society, to counter the menace of deep fakes, there is a need to take the responsibility to be a critical consumer of media on the Internet, think and pause before sharing on social media, and be part of the solution to this infodemic.

Conclusion

• As media consumers, we must be able to decipher, understand, translate, and use the information we encounter.
• The best method to deal with this problem is with technical solutions supported by artificial intelligence that can recognize and block deep fakes.
• Prior to resolving the issues associated with deep fakes, media literacy has to be improved.
• There is a need to create cyber arm, which would work on to tackle these types of new and emerging threats.
• There is also a need for easy-to-use and accessible technology solutions to detect deep fakes, authenticate media, and amplify authoritative sources.
• On the part of society, to counter the menace of deep fakes, there is a need to take the responsibility to be a critical consumer of media on the Internet, think and pause before sharing on social media, and be part of the solution.