Blog Post #8

 EOTO Terms & Concepts

Background on Deepfakes

    Similar to AI, also known as Artificial Intelligence, deepfakes are created by generative AI. Deepfakes were invented in 2014 by Ian Goodfellow, but was first used in 2017 when an anonymous user posted something on Reddit regarding the use of deepfakes, specifically the use of AI in creating fake videos. Deepfakes are photos or videos that are designed digitally to change the appearance of one's face or body, usually for the use of spreading false information. The use of deep fakes can be both good and bad to people, but the affects of deepfakes usually tend to be more dangerous than it is beneficial. 

Advantages of DeepFakes 

 Though the disadvantages outweigh the advantages, deepfakes can be useful for some people. One of those benefits include using deepfakes to help brands with marketing campaigns. Such campaigns like a marketing or public relations campaign can take a good amount of time and effort to do and deepfakes can instantly help people and companies with creative images and videos within a couple minutes. Along with that, deepfakes can help brand with marketing campaigns because they cost less, which can help the brand save lots of money as companies are always spending so much money on campaigns. In addition to the benefits of deepfakes on marketing campaigns, deepfakes also help individuals with their professional photos. Some students or young adults don't have a professional photo, and having one is very important, especially when you're in the job market, applying to companies. It's important to have a professional photo and there was a trend on TikTok with the use of AI photos and deep fakes. People were using them to create their professional LinkedIn photos and other random photos. While some looked very fake, some were very accurate, which shows that deepfakes can have its benefits. 

Disadvantages of DeepFakes

 The idea of using deepfakes revolve heavily around the issue of privacy and safety. People use deepfakes all the time, especially in our world today, to steal other's identities, which can then also lead to them stealing the individuals' private information such as their home address, number, credit card information --- the list goes on. These people will also try and use deepfakes to hack into people's social media accounts, which can also lead to them stealing their information and posting fake information. 

    The use of deepfakes can affect companies and brands in a negative way as well because if a company was caught using fake photos or videos on their platforms, it can create distrust within the customers. One of the most important things to a company is building trust with your audience because this creates a good relationship between the brand and their customers. For a company, it's always important to be honest with your customers, so if they saw a photo or video, created from deepfakes, on the brand's page, it would make the media suspicious about the brand. This is very cost beneficial for the company and its people as it affects their company's reputation since they could lose a lot of their supporters, and therefore their revenue as well. 

Affects on Society

  Deepfakes can cause major issues in society, mainly regarding the issues of people's privacy and safety. According to Open Fox, there is an increase in the spread of deepfakes on social media with misinformation. Nowadays, people are always on social media, especially the younger generation, which is why the concern of privacy and safety comes in. Most people who use deepfakes tend to target younger kids because they feel as though they can get information easily from them. This raises security with people on social media as random people will use deepfakes for harmful purposes, such as spreading false information and pictures or videos online. This can really affect one's reputation, and bring harm to their personal informations that might be stored in their social media. Although the younger generation seems to be targeted more, the issue of people using deepfakes for harmful purposes can affect everyone as this can happen to anyone including parents, siblings, teachers, friends, and the list goes on.