Artificial Intelligence meet Deepfake Videos

I have never been a fan of AI (Artificial Intelligence) because I have been able to envision how dangerous it can be in the hands of the wrong people. Now the Pandora's box has been opened and cyber-criminals are using AI to create fake videos to fool people into doing what the criminal wants.

Those videos are referred to as "AI-generated deep-fake", and they have been showing up on social media sites Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger), X, Tic-toc and others, in greater frequency.

I have never been a fan of AI (Artificial Intelligence) because I have been able to envision how dangerous it can be in the hands of the wrong people. Now the Pandora's box has been opened and cyber-criminals are using AI to create fake videos to fool people into doing what the criminal wants.

Those videos are referred to as "AI-generated deep-fake", and they have been showing up on social media sites Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger), X, Tic-toc and others, in greater frequency.

The videos falsely feature well-known personalities who supposedly are promoting some new product, miracle cure, service or information. The videos frequently target specific age groups that are more likely to fall prey to these professional scammers.

Thousands of new websites have been opened to support the scam. As soon as one can be found and potentially shut down, another will be opened.

Let me illustrate. Leigh has a small inexpensive app she uses to make her horse or our cats appear to be talking or sings. The mouths and facial movements make it appear the animals are actually talking. But unless you think "Mr Ed" actually talked, you know the animals are not talking or singing.

Now imagine a criminal organizations with millions of dollars to spend on technology. They gather videos and sound tracks of a person talking. The scammers then instruct AI to create a video of the person appearing to say words in a specific order. Almost magical there is now a video of the individual saying something they never said.

Security companies have been reporting significant increases of these "AI-generated deep-fake videos" since March 2024.

Some state and federal legislatures are introducing a bills to define proper use of copyrighted material in AI-generated media. But the initial drafts appear to have no affect beyond trying to define what Copyright law already states. And there is no affect on the criminal use of AI-generated materials.

AI-generated Deep-Fake videos can just as easily be created and used to destabilize governments and elections around the world. I have seen political ads that purportedly showing candidates saying things they never said. Those ads have subsequently been pulled, but the potential damage had already been done. In recent elections in the European Union AI-generated Deepfake ads were monitored and reported as false.

The European Union already has laws restricting the use of AI-generated Deepfakes, and requires "deployers" be transparent in identifying all AI-generated media. The United States seems to always lag behind the EU on making the internet a somewhat safer place for users. In the United States the old saying is still true, "the Internet is like the Wild-West; anything goes."

Tech giants are taking initial steps to limit AI-generated Deepfakes. Google is making it easier to remove obvious deepfakes from search engine results. Microsoft is calling on Congress to pass a "deepfake fraud statute to prevent cyber-criminals from using this technology to steal from everyday Americans."

Some are bound to ask, "since these scammers are so talented why don't they get a real job?" Truth is, they are probably making more money participating in a scam than they can doing legitimate work.