Seeing is believing? Global scramble to tackle deepfakes
Chatbots spouting falsehoods, face-swapping apps crafting porn videos and cloned voices defrauding companies of millions -- the scramble is on to rein in AI deepfakes that have become a misinformation super spreader.
Artificial Intelligence is redefining the proverb "seeing is believing," with a deluge of images created out of thin air and people shown mouthing things they never said in real-looking deepfakes that have eroded online trust.
"Yikes. (Definitely) not me," tweeted billionaire Elon Musk last year in one vivid example of a deepfake video that showed him promoting a crypto currency scam.
China recently adopted expansive rules to regulate deepfakes but most countries appear to be struggling to keep up with the fast-evolving technology amid concerns that regulation could stymie innovation or be misused to curtail free speech.
Experts warn that deepfake detectors are vastly outpaced by creators, who are hard to catch as they operate anonymously using AI-based software that was once touted as a specialized skill but is now widely available at low cost.
Facebook owner Meta last year said it took down a deepfake video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urging citizens to lay down their weapons and surrender to Russia.
And British campaigner Kate Isaacs, 30, said her "heart sank" when her face appeared in a deepfake porn video that unleashed a barrage of online abuse after an unknown user posted it on Twitter.
"I remember just feeling like this video was going to go everywhere -- it was horrendous," Isaacs, who campaigns against non-consensual porn, was quoted as saying by the BBC in October.
The following month, the British government voiced concern about deepfakes and warned of a popular website that "virtually
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