A new report from Data and Society raises doubts about automated solutions to deceptively altered videos — including the machine-learning altered videos called deepfakes. Authors Britt Paris and Joan Donovan argue deepfakes, while new, are part of a long history of media manipulation — one that requires both a social and a technical fix. Relying on AI could actually make things worse by concentrating more data and power in the hands of private corporations.
“The panic around deepfakes justifies quick technical solutions that don’t address structural inequality,” says Britt Paris, who co-authored the report. “It’s a massive project, but we need to find solutions that are social as well as political so people without power aren’t left out…