How do deepfakes work and what are their societal implications?

Deepfakes are like photo editing but for videos, they make people say or do things they never actually did.

Imagine you have a favorite cartoon character who always says “I’m the best!” Now imagine someone takes that character and makes it say “I’m the worst!” instead. That’s what deepfakes do, but with real people.

Deepfakes use computer tricks to change parts of a video. They look at lots of pictures or videos of a person, like how you might watch your friend play soccer many times so you know all their moves. Then the computer learns how that person’s face works and can make it say new things, like “I love ice cream!” even if they never said that before.

Deepfakes can be fun, like making a teacher say funny jokes in class! But they can also be used to trick people. If someone makes it look like your favorite celebrity is saying something silly or mean, you might believe it and spread the joke around, or get confused.

It's like when a friend draws on your face and you think it’s really there until you see the marker. Deepfakes are just a little bit more clever than that! Deepfakes are like photo editing but for videos, they make people say or do things they never actually did.

Imagine you have a favorite cartoon character who always says “I’m the best!” Now imagine someone takes that character and makes it say “I’m the worst!” instead. That’s what deepfakes do, but with real people.

Deepfakes use computer tricks to change parts of a video. They look at lots of pictures or videos of a person, like how you might watch your friend play soccer many times so you know all their moves. Then the computer learns how that person’s face works and can make it say new things, like “I love ice cream!” even if they never said that before.

Deepfakes can be fun, like making a teacher say funny jokes in class! But they can also be used to trick people. If someone makes it look like your favorite celebrity is saying something silly or mean, you might believe it and spread the joke around, or get confused.

It's like when a friend draws on your face and you think it’s really there until you see the marker. Deepfakes are just a little bit more clever than that!