Ashish Jaiman

What is Deepfakes ? A Serious Digital Threat | UPSC

Ashish Jaiman is the Director of Technology and Operations in the Customer Security and Trust organization at Microsoft, focusing on the Defending Democracy Program

A CYBER FRANKENSTEIN

• SKY IS THE LIMIT : Synthetic media can create possibilities and opportunities for all people, regardless of who they are, where they are, and how they listen, speak, or communicate.
• QUICK ALTERATIONS : It can give people a voice, purpose, and ability to make an impact at scale and with speed .
• MISUSE : As with any new innovative technology, it can be weaponised to inflict harm.
• DIGITAL FALLACY : Deepfakes, hyper-realistic digital falsification, can inflict damage to individuals, institutions, businesses and democracy.

• ROLE OF NATION-STATE ACTORS : Ideological believers, violent extremists etc can manipulate media narratives using deepfakes.

TARGETING WOMEN

• DEFAMATION AND VIOLENCE : The very first use of a deepfake was seen in pornography, inflicting emotional, reputational, and also violence towards the individual.
• PSYCHOLOGICAL HARM : Pornographic deepfakes can threaten, intimidate and reduce women to sexual objects.
• ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOURS : Deepfake pornography exclusively targets women . Deepfakes can depict a person indulging in antisocial behaviours and saying vile things.
• SEVERE IMPLICATIONS : These can have severe implications on their reputation, sabotaging their professional and personal life.

SPREADING DISTRUST

• VIRAL IN NATURE : Even if the victim could debunk the fake via an alibi or otherwise, it may come too late to remedy the initial harm.
• VICTIMISATION : Malicious actors can take advantage of unwitting individuals to defraud them for financial gains using audio and video deepfakes.
• EXTORTION BUSINESS : Deepfakes can be deployed to extract money, confidential information, or exact favours from individuals.
• SHORT MEMES : Deepfakes can cause short- and long-term social harm and accelerate the already declining trust in news media.
• FACTUAL RELATIVISM : Such an erosion can contribute to a culture of factual relativism, fraying the increasingly strained civil society fabric.
• SHARING PROSPECTS : Falsity is profitable, and goes viral more than the truth on social platforms.

• COMMUNAL CHAOS : A deepfake could act as a powerful tool by a nation-state to undermine public safety and create uncertainty and chaos in the target country.
• HATE SPEECHES : It can be used by insurgent groups and terrorist organisations, to represent their adversaries as making inflammatory speeches or engaging in provocative actions to stir up anti-state sentiments among people.

UNDERMINING DEMOCRACY

• UNDERMINING TRUST : A deepfake can also aid in altering the democratic discourse and undermine trust in institutions and impair diplomacy.
• FALSE INFORMATION :About institutions, public policy, and politicians powered by a deepfake can be exploited to spin the story and manipulate belief.
• RIGGING ELECTIONS : A well-executed one, a few days before polling, of a political candidate spewing out racial epithets or indulging in an unethical act can damage their campaign.

• MISINFORMATION OVERLOADED : A high-quality deepfake can inject compelling false information that can cast a shadow of illegitimacy over the voting process and election results.
• AUTHORITARIAN REGIME : For authoritarians , it is a tool that can be used to justify oppression and disenfranchise citizens.
• POPULISM SEEDS : Leaders can also use them to increase populism and consolidate power.
• LOWERING THE VOICES OF MANY : Deepfakes can become a very effective tool to sow the seeds of polarisation, amplifying division in society, and suppressing dissent.