Deep – That which cannot be easily understood.
Fake – That which is not real
Simply put, you can identify a fake easily. For example, an image like this. This is an old photograph of an Indian young lady in 1936 India.
On looking carefully, we notice that this image cannot be real because the left hand of the girl has only three fingers! This is a fake image and can be identified by careful observation.
But now, look at this image.
This is a photograph of a young girl in a Mumbai local. But the girl is not real. This is an AI generated image.
A deepfake is any AI generated content – audio, photo, video, or writing, that is not real. But it has been created to look or appear so real that one cannot identify it as fake.
What are deepfakes used for?
So far, we have not found any good use for deepfakes. There are some thoughts around using deepfakes to generate avatars of loved ones who have passed away.
But at this time, deepfakes are being used for crimes – fake transfers, fake kidnapping, etc.
How do we identify deepfakes?
At this time, we do not have any tech that can identify deepfakes.