Artificial Intelligence or AI has created a revolution in the digital content creation by enabling the development of deepfake. It creates synthetically generated videos,images , and audio that can convincingly mimic real individuals. Even though deepfake technology has legitimate applications in entertainment, education, and creative industries, its misuse has raised alarming legal and policy concerns. Deepfake have been time and again used as a weapon for crimes such as identity fraud, defamation, misinformation, non-consensual pornography, and political manipulation. It creates challenges for existing legal frameworks and law enforcement mechanisms.The emergence of deepfake crimes poses significant threats to privacy, cybersecurity, and democratic institutions. The AI is continuously improving the realism and accessibility of deepfake tools which the perpetrators can use to exploit legal loopholes and evade accountability. The Current laws available in India and across the globe , including provisions related to defamation, cybercrime, data protection, and intellectual property, are often inadequate to address the unique challenges posed by deepfake. Similarly, the enforcement agencies struggle with technical limitations in detecting and proving deepfake-related offenses.

What is Deepfake?

Deepfake is a type of media technology . It uses artificial intelligence, to create highly realistic fake images, videos, and audio. It includes deep learning and generative adversarial networks (GANs).The term “deepfake” is made up of two words “deep learning” and “fake”. This means that the digital content created by it is so manipulative that makes it difficult to distinguish from reality. The deepfake technology makes the alteration of faces, voices, and actions possible. It also creates misleading content that appears authentic.It has various legitimate applications like in film production, virtual reality, and voice assistance. But, its misuse has led to serious legal, ethical , and societal concerns. The cybercriminals use this technology to commit fraud. They also serve as misinformation, financial scams, and non-consensual pornography. The deepfake can be misused to create a fabricated videos of individuals , in which to they could be seen saying or doing things they never actually did. It is a significant threat to personal privacy, political stability, and public trust.

What are the applications of deepfake ?

The use of deepfake in itself is not a crime but it is used by several cybercriminals to cheat the innocent people. Deepfake technology has seen tremendous growth across various sectors be it entertainment , education or cybercrime. It is used by the filmmakers to digitAlly de-age the actors , replaces the faces of the stunt double with that of the actors or even bring deceased celebrities back to life. It finds its application in the gaming and virtual reality as well , where look alikes are created from the actual world to the metaverse. The realm of education is also not unaffected by it. Medical professionals use this to for professional training and to recreate historical figures for interactive learning.Ukraine incident – The misuse of deepfake leads to serious concerns in the political world. In 2022 deepfake was used to create a video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy , which was surfaced online, in which he was seen asking the Ukrainian soldiers to surrender during the Russia-Ukraine war. It was an attempt by the cybercriminals to spread propaganda and weaken public morale.

Europol’s innovation lab report (2022)

This report emphasis on the use of (GANs) generative adversarial networks which blurs the line between the deepfake and the authentic contents. It also talks about the criminal activities which are facilitated by the deepfake technology ,which includes ,Harassing or humiliating individuals onlineExtortion or fraudDisrupting financial marketSupporting the narrative of extremistSpreading hate crimesCyber arrestAnother vital area of misuse is non-consensual pornography. Deepfake technology is used to create explicit video ,which is fake , of individuals without their consent.This leads to the damage of reputation and creates legal challenges.The misuse of technology has poses threats to privacy , security and democracy .

What is the Technology Behind Deepfakes?

The most prominent techniques used in creating a deepfake content is Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). A GAN has two AI models working in contrast : the generator and the discriminator. On one hand the generator creates synthetic images, videos, or audio, and attempts to make them as realistic as possible, on the other hand the discriminator evaluates the output by determining whether it is real or artificially generated. The generator through repeated iterations tries to improve its ability to produce a convincing fake content. This makes it difficult to distinguish from genuine media.With the growing technology as GANs become sophisticated and widely accessible ,it is becoming more easier to create highly realistic yet entirely fabricated digital content. This blurs the line between fiction and reality.

What are the types of deepfake ?

There are two main classification of deepfake video forgeries and audio forgeries.Video Deepfakes includes altering a person’s face or body making it appear as someone else. This technique is commonly used to spread misinformation by creating false video about a public figure or disjoining the face of celebrity with the body of another. Audio Deepfakes means to replicate a person’s voice with accuracy. This is used by scammers to falsely disguise themselves . It is also used to potray a person as saying things they never actually did.While both types of deepfakes have legitimate uses in entertainment and media, they also present serious threat like fraud, identity theft, and political manipulation.

Is there any relevance of deepfake in real world ?

The deepfake videos of several public figures have gained widespread publicity. This technology has both the capabilities and risks. Some of the incidents are:A deepfake video of the former US President Barack Obama surfaced online in 2018 in which he was seen delivering a public service announcement about the dangers of fake news. However, it was, in reality a work of filmmaker Jordan Peele in collaboration with Buzz Feed CEO Jonah Peretti, which was created by digital manipulation to highlight the risks posed by deepfake technology.An hyper realistic deepfake video of Tom Cruise was surfaced in 2021 in which he was seen performing everyday activities, it was created by ,Miles Fisher in collaboration with Chris Umé, a visual effects expert.These examples demonstrate the impressive advancements in deepfake technology. But they also enlighten dangers of misinformation with which public perception can be manipulated.

Is deepfake an Innovation or tool a for Deception?

Deepfakes acts as bridge between groundbreaking technological innovation and a powerful instrument for deception. On one hand it opens exciting opportunities for the creative fields like filmmaking, gaming, and virtual reality, enhancing storytelling and digital experiences, on the other hand its misuse is spreading misinformation and serious threat to ethics and security. Deepfake is a double edged sword.

The Impact of Deepfakes on Society

Deepfakes posses a challenge to the foundation of truth and trust in society. The highly convincing false narrative creates a concerns about disinformation, especially in areas like politics and public discourse. Not only in the political sphere, deepfakes also contains serious risks to personal security. The technology can be used to exploited for blackmail, fraud, cyberbullying, and other crimes. This makes individual vulnerable to digital deception.To cater the threat caused by deepfake the need for vigilant and advanced detection technology is the need of the hour.

How to curb the negative impact ?

Public awareness can be one of the steps to curb the negative impacts .In the fast moving world it is essential to find a balance between innovation and regulations so that technological advancements are not achieved at the cost of privacy and security of another person. Christian Lous Lange rightly stated “ Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master”.

**The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author**