Intelligence is a two-sided dagger. It can turn humans into successful beings in every field, or it can turn humans into villains. Intelligence is no longer limited to how humans will use the natural intelligence they are endowed with. Globalized artificial intelligence is within arm’s reach. It’s both dazzling and frightening to see what you can do by combining the natural intelligence hidden in our brains and the artificial intelligence of smart devices and sensors.
Today, AI technology that mirrors individual intelligence to “the peak of capability” with a multiplier effect can’t actually behave like a real human being. But, it can imitate the human face “with extreme cogency” in digital form. Deepfake videos named after a “username” on reddit.com, which is one of the most popular digital platforms of the 2000s, is a product of “deep learning” and “producing delusive reality” from artificial intelligence.
The reddit.com user “Deepfakes” focused on a face-swap application developed with machine learning of AI. This software, which is a by-product of AI technology, is added to cameras as an “entertaining and innocent application”. However, this innocence was soon ruptured and these applications were used for “evil” purposes.
Today, with the help of artificial intelligence, it is possible to create persuasive and realistically “fake” videos that are difficult to distinguish from real individuals. This is done by changing a digital image with just a few clicks. All you need is a single photograph.
An application with these properties downloaded to your phone is okay as long as you are sharing fun videos where you added your own face to a film scene with your friends. But, if you use someone else’s face in a video that they have not consented to, you can damage their reputation or pose a threat to their safety. The law must step in at this point to protect citizens. Also, legally speaking, face-swap without consent could lead to crimes like fraud and other irreparable damage.
A universal legal test
Countries that try to take precautions against cyber-crimes that expand as rapidly as the internet are facing a new legal test due to the deepfake outbreak. In England, the audio manipulation using AI of a German-based company’s CEO led to an illegal transfer of money in the amount of $243,000. When the transfer order received by the fake voice of the CEO was completed, this money started a long journey to an unknown account in Mexico.