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The US Military is Funding an Effort To Catch Deepfakes and Other AI Trickery (technologyreview.com)

The Department of Defense is funding a project that will try to determine whether the increasingly real-looking fake video and audio generated by artificial intelligence might soon be impossible to distinguish from the real thing -- even for another AI system. From a report: This summer, under a project funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the world's leading digital forensics experts will gather for an AI fakery contest. They will compete to generate the most convincing AI-generated fake video, imagery, and audio -- and they will also try to develop tools that can catch these counterfeits automatically. The contest will include so-called "deepfakes," videos in which one person's face is stitched onto another person's body.

Rather predictably, the technology has already been used to generate a number of counterfeit celebrity porn videos. But the method could also be used to create a clip of a politician saying or doing something outrageous. DARPA's technologists are especially concerned about a relatively new AI technique that could make AI fakery almost impossible to spot automatically. Using what are known as generative adversarial networks, or GANs, it is possible to generate stunningly realistic artificial imagery.

27 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. Our politicians already say outrageous things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    No need to fake it. Our citizenry expect it, because the United States is turning into a full blown Idiocracy, and both the left and right are bring drawn into it, compelled by moronic (but good sounding to one group of people) views.

    P.s. the whole point of the GAN paradigm is that it can produce more convincing fakes by first improving the algorithm that detects fakes and then splicing the improved version into the system.

  2. Re:Sharing Deep-Fake porn should be Sexual Assult by olsmeister · · Score: 2

    You think it'll be acceptable when kids can make and share real-looking videos of their teachers getting plowed by Ron Jeremy?

  3. Encrypted Authenticity Verification Networks by resistant · · Score: 1

    The thought occurs that an inevitable explosion of fake video and audio recordings will drive the development of encrypted authentication networks that verify that a supposed recording came from a sealed, supposedly tamper-proof recording device from a manufacturer whose production lines, parts suppliers, and design teams are closely monitored by government agencies and nonprofit organizations against the possibility of firmware tampering. Recordings produced by unvetted devices will be automatically assumed by courts and other interested parties to be inherently unreliable and very likely fake in all cases of controversy.

    The enormous growth of computing power guarantees that this kind of seamless video and audio fakery will become mainstream faster than you might think. Heck, I'm looking forward to 2020 or 2021 at the latest as the year I can browse to a free spoofing website to make up a video of Hillary Rodham Clinton staggering in a drunken haze into the welcoming arms of Vladimir Putin on the steps of the Kremlin. Next, I'll play around with videos of Donald Trump soaring like a bird around the dome of the United States Capitol, whooping loudly and dropping dookies on passersby below. Then I'll gussy up an ultra-realistic video showing a mean neighbor porking a horrified dog and send that along to the ASPCA and to the local cops. They might not believe an unverified video in the age of universal fakes, but hey. Fun days!

    --
    A truly excellent pizza parlor is a delight unto the heavens. Treasure the sauce and the toppings!
    1. Re:Encrypted Authenticity Verification Networks by thomst · · Score: 1

      resistant hypothesized:

      The thought occurs that an inevitable explosion of fake video and audio recordings will drive the development of encrypted authentication networks that verify that a supposed recording came from a sealed, supposedly tamper-proof recording device from a manufacturer whose production lines, parts suppliers, and design teams are closely monitored by government agencies and nonprofit organizations against the possibility of firmware tampering. Recordings produced by unvetted devices will be automatically assumed by courts and other interested parties to be inherently unreliable and very likely fake in all cases of controversy.

      I don't think you have a lot of experience with how courts work in actual practice - or legislatures, either.

      Judges are basically free to accept or reject evidence according to their own rules. In the USA, for instance, some of them still admit latent fingerprint testimony, despite the fact that an AAAS panel of expert forensic scientists has completely debunked the science behind it. Another such AAAS panel also determined that much of the "science" behind forensic arson analysis is equally worthless. And the National Commission on Forensic Science - whose members included career prosecutors, forensics experts, and criminal defense groups - called for the establishment of a comprehensive, national set of forensic standards for evidence submitted to criminal justice courts.

      And don't get me started on bite mark analysis.

      (Jeff Sessions has disbanded the NCFS, and is planning to replace it with a panel composed of prosecutors and forensics "experts", because, of course he has.)

      Despite all the accumulated evidence that much of forensic science is largely based on handwaving and bullshit, there are no prohibitions against its use in criminal courts, even for capital crimes.

      Meanwhile, I can't speak knowledgeably about other countries' criminal justice systems (although I'm pretty sure that Commonwealth countries and a bunch of EU member states have equally screwed up standards), but here in the USA, there is little sign that either state legislatures or Congress have any trace of will to fix these problems - although, to be fair, the Texas Forensic Science Commission, of all unlikely bellwethers, has determined that bite mark analysis has no scientific basis, and recommended that it be banned from being used in state courts.

      Naturally, the Texas legislature has not enacted the recommended ban, so even Texas criminal court judges are still free to admit bite mark analysis into evidence - including in capital cases.

      So, your prediction seems to me to have little in the way of either fact or precedent to support it.

      Not to mention the chorus of outrage that would undoubtedly follow the instant any bill is introduced to mandate the authenticity verification scheme you propose would pretty much guarantee its instant demise ...

      --
      Check out my novel.
  4. Re:Sharing Deep-Fake porn should be Sexual Assult by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

    Not now. But maybe in 10 years time sharing a deepfake porn of someone will be considered the equivalent of writing "Such-and-such sucks c*ock for a fiver" on the bathroom wall.

    --
    If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  5. Carrie Fisher by Zorro · · Score: 4, Funny

    Supports deep fakes.

    She said so this morning at a Disney press conference.

  6. Re:Sharing Deep-Fake porn should be Sexual Assult by Jeremi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How about -- in 10 years time nobody will be able to believe anything they read, hear, or see, at which point democracy becomes unworkable. As Jefferson famously said, a properly functioning democracy depends on an informed electorate -- but it's nearly impossible for anyone to be well-informed when every valid piece of information is competing with a cloud of equally-plausible forgeries, and even people operating in good faith can no longer discern what is or isn't real.

    We are already seeing this occurring, with segments of society breaking off into their own enclosed media-bubbles, the walls of which become increasingly impermeable to inconvenient facts or reasoning, as any evidence that would traditionally cause them to adjust their worldview now simply gets dismissed as 'fake'. I see no reason to think it won't get worse over time.

    --


    I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
  7. The solution to deepfakes is... more deepfakes! by drjoe1e6 · · Score: 1

    Picture this: A few days before the election, a new video has "Candidate A" speaking at a satanist convention, disparaging the flag, mom, and apple pie. Totally fake, but how can Candidate A fight back?

    Simply put out a new ad, with fake footage of Candidate B saying _exactly_ the same speech... then JFK, then Nixon, then ($pop_idol_of_the_week). Tagline is "I'm Candidate A, and I can make stuff up too."

    A sad state of affairs, but if I ran a political party, I'd crank up a rendering farm for this type of emergency.

    --
    Lose = not win ...... Loose = not tight
    1. Re:The solution to deepfakes is... more deepfakes! by Nidi62 · · Score: 2

      Picture this: A few days before the election, a new video has "Candidate A" speaking at a satanist convention, disparaging the flag, mom, and apple pie. Totally fake, but how can Candidate A fight back?

      Too obviously and explicitly fake. The best way to do it is something small and subtle, enough to simply cause confusion that, if released a week or so before the election, is fresh enough in everyone's mid to sway independents and undecideds to your preferred candidate. Maybe the candidate doing/talking about doing drugs, or domestic violence, sexual assault, taking bribes, etc. Something that isn't huge but would take a while to investigate and repudiate. No amount of fake video will sway partisans on either side, but it doesn't take much to give those in the middle a little nudge.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    2. Re:The solution to deepfakes is... more deepfakes! by sinij · · Score: 2

      More interesting implication of this, is that now you could get away with actually speaking at a satanist convention, disparaging the flag, mom, and apple pie. Because you could just claim it is fake news.

  8. Re:Sharing Deep-Fake porn should be Sexual Assult by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Creating or sharing photo-realistic AI generated porn should be sexual assault.

    I prefer that we leave the definition of sexual assault alone.

    In a rape joke culture, it's already hard enough to get actual sexual assault (i.e.: a physical assault with a sexual intent) taken seriously.

    We don't need something that isn't a physical assault masquerading as a sexual assault, giving people the idea that sexual assault isn't serious.

  9. When our Cells can do it... by stilrz · · Score: 1
    When our Cells can do it...

    Perhaps a better definition of the singularity.

  10. Re:Sharing Deep-Fake porn should be Sexual Assult by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    it's nearly impossible for anyone to be well-informed when every valid piece of information is competing with a cloud of equally-plausible forgeries, and even people operating in good faith can no longer discern what is or isn't real.

    You seem to be describing our current state, not the future.

    The solution is simple: A well-informed electorate.

    That means you actually have to, you know, work at knowledge, rather than drooling and giggling and clapping like a moron at the 24/7 "news" cycle.

  11. Re:Sharing Deep-Fake porn should be Sexual Assult by Jeremi · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The solution is simple: A well-informed electorate.

    Okay, but that's begging the question -- how do you gain (or maintain) a well-informed electorate when the forgeries have become so realistic that distinguishing between a forgery and an authentic piece of information takes more skill than most people possess? Simply demanding that people become exponentially smarter isn't going to make them so, no matter how severely we chastise them.

    Usually when people realize they don't have the skill to make a reliable determination about something for themselves, they look to a knowledgeable expert (or at least, a trustworthy authority figure) to help them make the right determination... but here again we now run into the same problem -- who is actually a valid expert or a trustworthy authority figure, and who is faking it? And even if the person in question is valid and trustworthy, how does the average person verify that what they are hearing that person say are things that person actually said, and not clever forgeries designed to mislead people?

    --


    I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
  12. Re: Sharing Deep-Fake porn should be Sexual Assult by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Dallas May raped me. Accusation is guilt. Toss 'em in the Gulag!

  13. Re:Sharing Deep-Fake porn should be Sexual Assult by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    How about -- in 10 years time nobody will be able to believe anything they read, hear, or see, at which point democracy becomes unworkable. As Jefferson famously said, a properly functioning democracy depends on an informed electorate -- but it's nearly impossible for anyone to be well-informed when every valid piece of information is competing with a cloud of equally-plausible forgeries, and even people operating in good faith can no longer discern what is or isn't real.

    You, sir, have just summed up the entire way Donald Trump became president.

    Don't like a new story? Call it fake news.

    Don't like the facts? Call it fake news.

    Need some evidence for something which isn't true? Pay a think tank to produce a report which sounds plausible.

    Don't agree with an expert's conclusion? Call them 'elites' as if that makes what they say not count.

    I'd wager a significant portion of the US populace is no longer an 'informed electorate'. They are either wilfully in denial of things they wish weren't true ... or they have no idea they believe in things which aren't true, and are provably untrue.

    The US is already living in a world where facts and evidence are conflated with opinion and belief. And that is truly scary. The muzhiks will just follow along with what the leader says, because they simply don't know better, and don't care because they've been told "la la la" is a perfectly valid rebuttal to facts and evidence.

    Some significant portion of America have voluntarily decided to be fucking morons.

  14. On Ashcroft's Wings... by buravirgil · · Score: 1

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... Understand...Virtual Child Pornography involved the Supreme Court because digitally created images were used to agitate and turn Muslim suspects held at sites around the world in Psy-Operations. We've got to understand that the whole nature of the way American democracy guards its freedom has been changed.~ John Ashcroft, former US Attorney General

    --
    Would were! Should is! Could be! And live a hundred times three.
  15. Re:Sharing Deep-Fake porn should be Sexual Assult by religionofpeas · · Score: 2

    how does the average person verify that what they are hearing that person say are things that person actually said, and not clever forgeries designed to mislead people?

    A public key signature by the person doing the talking ?

  16. Re:Sharing Deep-Fake porn should be Sexual Assult by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

    Whatever floats your boat

    --
    If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  17. You are pretending like that has ever been true. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Go read up on the Spanish-American War, the Opening of Japan, Native American/German-American/Japanese-American Internment, etc. The frothing masses have always been fed whatever narrative makes them back the currently desired course of action since the founding of this 'fair country'. If you go back further you can find the same action going on all over the world, only overshadowed by rebellions when the narrative was disrupted by facts on the ground, usually resource shortages or labor abuses so prevalent that word of them got around the propaganda and everyone knew someone who could verify it with boots/letters from the ground.

    The news/internet of today is no different. The only way to divest yourself of the propaganda is to have a network of trusted individuals, some of whom are in the affected regions who can report on what is actually going on there, just like has always been true. If you or someone you know has not met them in person and spent time with them, they are just as unreliable as the news or a reporter.

  18. Re: Sharing Deep-Fake porn should be Sexual Assult by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You really need to get some perspective.

    How is making a (technically sophisticated) even in the same league as attacking someone?

    What about people who happen to look like famous people? Are they banned from making porn? Twins?

    Get a grip. If you are so fragile that you can't live with the idea of someone using your image in ways you don't like, you clearly have few actual problems to complain about.

    People near you are being attacked, starving and dying of preventable diseases. Your imaginary problems are not worth the electrons I am using to debate them.

  19. Re:Sharing Deep-Fake porn should be Sexual Assult by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    Creating or sharing photo-realistic AI generated porn should be sexual assault.

    And while we're at it, let's ban even imagining having sex with someone without his permission! /s

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  20. Re:Sharing Deep-Fake porn should be Sexual Assult by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

    Deepfake porn is the porn of a new generation. It is the porn of my generation. We don't need government intrusion into it. Let the free market decide. You liberals and your laws.

    Because today's young people are no longer having sex, it stands to reason that their porn should be fake also.

  21. Re:Sharing Deep-Fake porn should be Sexual Assult by AvitarX · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure.

    I agree with your basic premise, but if it's as easy and realistic as people claim, it will be so prevalent as to not really even be seen as a problem for the victims I suspect (maybe I'm naive and optimistic, I'm willing to accept that).

    Today, I'm sure it would be horribly traumatizing, but in a decade I suspect it will culturally be along the lines of someone claiming to have slept with you that hasn't (bullying/harassment, not assault).

    --
    Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
  22. cryptographic signatures by markjhood2003 · · Score: 1

    I wonder if soon all photographic, video, and audio recording devices will be required to incorporate hardened individual hardware certificates that can sign all the recordings that particular device creates. At least in that case it seems it would be possible to verify that a particular portion of unedited source material was recorded directly by a specific device without any additional manipulation, which could be useful in legal, political, or scientific contexts where verification of origin is required.

  23. Privacy achieved via deepfakes? by misnohmer · · Score: 1

    The society went from no video, to video surveillance everywhere. Are we now coming full circle where videos will carry no credibility at all, therefore equivalent of not having any video surveillance anyways? Revenge porn, no problem if nobody can prove it's real or not.

  24. Re:Sharing Deep-Fake porn should be Sexual Assult by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

    What name do you prefer? "Involuntary pornography" perhaps?

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC