Advantages And Disadvantages Of DeepFake Technology

DeepFake is a technology which has been around for past few years. It is a video editing technology based on complex Deep Learning computer algorithms and Artificial Intelligence (A. I. ). Basically, it uses algorithms to mark points on a human face which can be replaced with other person’s face. With various technological advancements, voice cloning can also be performed. The name ‘DeepFake’ is based on the nature of the task performed by the technology and the algorithm used by it, i. e. Deep Learning. The first desktop application which was launched based of DeepFake was FakeApp (Deepfake, n. d. ).

This app took over the internet by storm just after its launch. Despite its popularity for some good reasons it came into news for illegal works too. A. I. is a trending topic in the science field, many big tech giants are working to use it for improvements in technology. Use of facial tracking with A. I. has been around for quite some time, a various app such as My Talking Tom released in 2013 has been very successful (My Talking Tom, n. d. ). Recently, Apple which is the world’s first Trillion dollar company also released its own version of DeepFake Technology based app known as ‘Animoji’. This feature of iPhone is similar to DeepFake technology but not as close to its functionalities performed by it. Animoji can make cartoon copy of a real person but with DeepFake one can create an actual imitation of someone. DeepFake is highly advanced technology and it's improving every year. It is used in medical science and for various educational purposes. According to me, DeepFake AI can be used in medical science to improve recovery times of a person suffering from Paralysis or Addiction problems. A video created with the patient face masked on to an athletic person can highly motivate them to cooperate for faster recovery.

There can be many other disadvantages and advantages of all the technologies existing in the world but the real question arises is that is the DeepFake technology so advantageous that it can cover up all the disadvantages? Should we encourage the use of this technology in our Society? I will compare both sides of this technology in the essay. DeepFake technology was unknown to the mass until 2017. After the incident of Gal Gadot an Israeli actress and model well-known for as the actor portraying Wonder Woman. In autumn 2017 a Reddit user posted adult images and videos online which caught up headlines in the news channels. Later it was shared on more websites such as Twitter which led to the production of more videos featuring Emma Watson, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift (Deepfake, n. d. ). After the release of FakeApp, this technology became easily accessible by many perpetrators due to which many videos surfaced on the internet and most of them can be categorized into celebrity pornographic video or revenge porn. Not only celebrities were affected by revenge porn videos but women and girls who were under 18 were also targeted by such perpetrators. Sooner when this app became famous more videos surfaced over the internet. A real-life example is Noelle Martin she gave a Ted Talk and in her video Titled “Sexual predators edited my photos into porn - how I fought back” on TEDx Talks YouTube Channel, explains how this Technology affected her life when she was just 17 (TEDxTalks, 2018).

Once, when she was randomly searching her name on google found that one of her picture she posted on social media was used by some predators. Her face was edited on an adult actress and the video was shared on various websites without her consent. She tried to overcome the situation bravely and complained to police but they were of no help because identifying the suspect was difficult and no law or regulations were drafted for DeepFake videos by that time. Noelle continued her fight against predators for 6 years and refused to give up resulted in the creation of awareness amongst legislative bodies. Various laws were made for revenge porn and sexual abuse in Australia. Martin says the fight is not over yet but people are aware enough to fight against such incidents if it ever happens (Curtis, 2018) Another Consequentialist argument against DeepFake videos is that some videos are created in order to spread fake news and malicious hoaxes. Celebrity/Political leader memes and parody videos are made using this technology. Not all videos are made to create hate speech, some videos are made for fun purposes but according to me, DeepFake technology can be used as a weapon of spreading hate among different groups of society. It can also be used to create disturbances between 2 nations. A video was posted by BuzzFeedVideo in April this year focuses on how the use of this technology can be Politically harmful. In that video, Barak Obama, former president of United States of America, says that "We're entering an era in which our enemies can make anyone say anything at any point in time. " (BuzzFeedVideo, 2018). During the video, he says some swear words which are not acceptable from the President of a U. S. Definitely, later in the video they explain that the video is just for demonstration purposes and someone else is imitating to be Barack Obama.

The video clearly explains that what are the capabilities of DeepFake technology, how well can a video be made to influence people to create hate. After watching the video various question arises, what if a video is made in which Trump uses some hate speech against Russian President Vladimir Putin? A tension will definitely generate between the two countries, Media houses will get a news which they can broadcast for hours. Hence, it can be concluded that this technology is capable of creating a war between nations and also can cause hoax amongst the citizens. Apart from the disadvantages, there are many uses of this technology in various aspects of society. Firstly, It is used in Medical Science to train algorithms for detection of tumours.

According to an article written on Fast Company, GAN’s are tech that makes fake data like deepfakes. Two data sets of Alzheimer’s disease and the other with tumours are mixed to create data sets which are used to train algorithms for better detection of tumours at any stage (Snow, 2018). Secondly, when such deepfake videos related to politics are shared and news is circulated, people often ask themselves a question, is this video/picture authentic? Before 2017 when DeepFake technology was unknown to common people, no one would have ever thought that a video can be faked by masking someone’s else face and voice. When such incidents happen and people get to know more about such incidents, it creates awareness among them that they should not trust any video blindly (Charleer, 2018). Now, my point is not to say that people should completely rely on such incidents to happen first then learn about it, Government should also focus on spreading awareness in society buy people do learn from real life incidents. To every problem there comes a solution and for this, there are several ways to tackle the misuse of this technology.

Firstly, it should be the responsibility of the developers behind this technology. They should not only work on bring enhancements and upgrading the tech but should also consider ways to minimize technology abuse happening with it. Since it is based on Artificial Intelligence, developers should devise a mechanism to smartly track misuse of their software and should be reported to their systems. This logs collected can be used as evidence in court and should be made available to police for investigation. Secondly, it is also the responsibility of the government to spread awareness about the misuse of this technology. Laws should be made for the protection of the victim. Helpline numbers should be introduced for deepfake victims where a complaint can be raised with protecting the privacy of the person. The government should spread awareness by the means of advertisement on tv and public transport banners. This steps will not only make public aware but will also help victims find a resolution for them. The deontological argument against Data logging by developers can be that if developers start to record data and store it on their servers, there are always chances of misuse of that data by a company’s employee or if their system gets hacked. Privacy of their customers is always at risk. Data privacy of customer is always an important factor as the foundation of the company which cannot be breached.

When it comes on the deontological side in support of DeepFake technology, there are not many arguments which I can come up with because this tech has always caught up news for not-quite-right videos or some weird things. But there are some areas where the use of deepfakes is highly advantageous as in medical science. Therefore, putting a complete ban on this technology is not a solution. All the science invented so far has some disadvantages. There are always 2 sides of a coin, But in my belief drawbacks of DeepFake technology overweighs its benefits. Hence, I believe that taking measures such as limiting the use technology only for advancements in science and other helpful departments is a perfect solution to stop misuse of it. Putting a ban on commercial software’s which can be used for causing harm should be brought in action. There will always be new advancements in science which are harmful to the community yet essential for science. I firmly believe that DeepFake technology is very useful but the correct implementation is what matters the most.

As a conclusion, accounting all the consequentialist and deontological reasons, according to me, there are various pros and cons to this argument and it's not always ethical dilemma or morality in using deepfake technology. Using technology in a correct manner, in a way that it was developed to be used is very important. Everything can be misused and in the history of science, there are various discoveries which were started for some good but ended in use of something which was bad of society because everyone in the society doesn't think morally. There are always evil minds which will misuse almost anything but we cannot force everyone to stop, rather we can just create awareness which makes everyone think morally and doesn’t cause disturbances in society.