How to Outfox Deepfakes

Photo credit: Isai Ramos

By Darren Katz, Amplia Group Co-Founding Partner

In an era where there is increasing concern about the veracity of news, a potentially much more serious issue are deepfakes. Deepfakes are videos that have been digitally altered to display artificial video and audio. The potential for damage by deepfakes includes social, economic, and political costs. 

For example, a political organization could produce a deepfake of an opposing candidate saying or doing embarrassing or offensive things. This problem is just becoming prominent and is extremely concerning to observers across the political and business communities. 

Fortunately, several companies are pursuing a technical solution that may limit the damage from deepfakes.  This article highlights Truepic, a company that authenticates video from the moment it is made. The authentication is stored on blockchain so that anyone can access its authentication. While not solving the deepfake problem, this solution could potentially mitigate some of its damage.