First off, watch this Tik Tok of Tom Cruise:
@deeptomcruiseSports!
Now, let me tell you: that’s not actually Tom Cruise.
No, what you’re looking at is a ‘deepfake’. ‘Deepfakes’ are videos made using technology to seamlessly stitch anyone in the world into a video or photo they never actually participated in. And while this isn’t new – take the late Paul Walker’s inclusion in Fast & Furious 7 – it used to be that it would take professional studios months on months to create the image. Even then, there’d be moments that would alert eagle-eyed viewers to its staged product (think Princess Lea in ‘Star Wars: Rogue One’ and how unrealistic it was to have the face of a young Carrie Fisher pasted onto the body of another actress). Using Artificial intelligence (AI) to learn the angles, movements and microexpressions off a source face to allow for that face to then be transposed onto a target (usually an actor with a mask or with those motion detector dots) However, newer advancement in deepfake technology means that new automatic computer-graphics or machine-learning systems can synthesize images and videos in less time. This is obviously a boon for the film industry: better graphics for less of the time? Heck yeah!
But… it raises the question of: how do we then know what is fake and what is not? On the account @deeptomcruise, there are three videos of the 58-year-old playing golf, falling down and doing a magic trick. In all three, the person in the video looks eerily like the ‘Top Gun’ actor. In fact, many comments on the video echoed this sentiment, stating that they didn’t realise that the video was fake until the fact was pointed out.
In the videos, the actor says:
“If you like what you’re seeing, just wait ‘till what’s coming next.”
“It’s the real thing. I mean, it’s all the real thing,”
Now, it definitely helps that the actor that is ‘wearing’ Cruises’ face has his voice and mannerisms down to the T. However, it is to be noted that even audio can be ‘faked. Nevertheless, the videos of Tom Cruise have left people scared about the possibilities of what could be done with this tech. Not only can it be used to create fake scenarios involving celebrities, politicians and even the average person in ridiculous, dangerous or even compromising situations – but it can also be used to threaten and bully individuals.
What do you think? Is this development more exciting than it is scary? Let us know your thoughts!
*Cover image credits: Tik Tok
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