21 May 2019

Deepfakes, synthetic media a threat to democracy

From Morning Report, 8:25 am on 21 May 2019

Thanks to Donald Trump the phrase "fake news" is, for better or worse, forever embedded in our collective consciousness.

But fake news - false information which is spread deliberately to deceive people - is just the tip of the iceberg threatening our democracy.

"Deepfakes" create phony human images based on artificial intelligence, so it's possible to make it seem as if individuals are doing and saying things they never did. This has both personal, and political, implications.

Tom Barraclough has co-authored a report for the Law Foundation on the problem of deepfake and synthetic media, and what New Zealand lawmakers might need to do to fight it.