Op-Ed Writing - DeepFakes

Imagine a world where your every move and every facial expression can be copied exactly through a couple touches of AI. This is what's currently possible through the world of AI and DeepFakes. Sure, it may sound like a world full of sparkles and rainbows, but what if I told you that in today's world, numerous people are suffering from this problem?

Now, according to The Guardian, DeepFakes "use a form of artificial intelligence called deep learning to make images of fake events". The reason why DeepFakes are a problem is because they creates confusion, skepticism, and the spread of misinformation. The technology can also lead to cyberbullying and legal dangers as well. For example, a student can make a DeepFake of their classmate doing something that isn't appropriate for school, or doing something fairly embarrassing. Since AI is highly developed these days, people will believe that the video is real, and the student will be ashamed and confused at the same time. No one would believe them until there’s actually given proof that someone had used a DeepFake.

I, as an individual, also believe that DeepFakes are very dangerous. Think about it. There have been many instances already where DeepFakes of famous celebrities or people working in the government have been made to be shown to the public. In December 2023, videos of Lee Hsien Loong, prime minister of Singapore, and Lawrence Wong, the deputy prime minister, were circulated online to promote crypto and investment products. It was later found out that these were DeepFakes—, and advertisers used have AI to -generate videos to fake the politician’s identities.

Additionally, fake videos can harm one's identity as well. Because of how high- quality these DeepFakes are, people will lose trust in everything they see on the internet. For instance, a video of someone doing or saying something that they never did may surface on YouTube. When harmful enough, the video can guarantee ruining that person's life. A very serious case may be when someone makes a fake video out of a popular celebrity such as Beyoncé or Taylor Swift doing something highly controversial to their job. This might lead to people believing it is real and leaving the fan base at a fast rate. This may cause celebrities to be cancelled from society despite not doing anything wrong.

Imagine how worse situations these can get if already so many people are gullible enough to trust everything we see in the status quo. Technology will develop further on in the future, and the quality of these DeepFakes will also turn more realistic.

On the other hand, people might say that DeepFakes can help with efficiency. For example, when learning about the history of the colonization of North America, the teacher can make a DeepFake of a person from the generation so that the students can know how it was like to live at that time. Sure, that is a point to be agreed upon. However, just because something can function for one's benefit doesn't mean it can't harm another. Not everyone is innocent and will use this technology for the world's good. Therefore, we need to create a solution in the future for everyone to use it without causing harm.

In conclusion, DeepFakes can be a very useful tool if only we use it in the correct way. If we take it as an advantage to humiliate or harm others, it can be very dangerous. In order to maintain a safe community while using DeepFakes, we will all need to be very careful, and also will need to create various rules to protect the public. Using DeepFakes isn't a right - it's a privilege that is given.