Deepfake videos: The technology warping our sense of reality online

Luke O'Reilly16 November 2019

The creator of a hyper-realistic "deepfake" video of "Boris Johnson" endorsing Jeremy Corbyn today warned they could become a fixture in British politics.

Earlier this week, the fake video of the "Prime Minister" backing the Labour leader in next month's general election was released online.

The video was made by Future Advocacy, an artificial intelligence think tank, in a bid to pressurise MPs to address the spread of deepfakes online.

Areeq Chowdhury, its leader, told the Standard: "The reason we are raising awareness of it now is we have time - it's in its infancy."

The fake Boris endorses Jeremy Corbyn in the video
Future Advocacy

In the video, the fake Mr Johnson tells the camera: "Hi folks, I am here with a very special message. Since that momentous day in 2016, division has coursed through our country as we argue with fantastic passion, vim and vigour about Brexit.

"My friends, I wish to rise above this divide and endorse my worthy opponent, the Right Honourable Jeremy Corbyn, to be Prime Minister of our United Kingdom.

"Only he, not I, can make Britain great again."

The video caused a stir online, with some commentators condemning the release for undermining the public's faith in video technology.

General Election 2019 - In pictures

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But Mr Chowdhury, head of Future Advocacy, said deepfakes are becoming increasingly commonplace in politics.

He cited Arvind Limbavali, a politician in India, who broke down in tears in his country's parliament about a deepfake sex tape that purported to show him.

He said: "The worst case scenarios are already happening in some countries, in terms of disinformation.

"The reason we are raising awareness of it now is we have time, it's in its infancy.

"With all of these other technologies we arrived to the game so late."

Explaining how deepfakes are made, Mr Chowdhury told how Future Advocacy hired an impressionist to mimic Mr Johnson.

The impressionist's voice was then synced with the Prime Minister's gestures, with artificial intelligence used to create mouth movements that matched the new voice.

A second video featuring "Mr Corbyn" was also released, though it was widely mocked for sounding nothing like the Labour leader.

Mr Chowdhury said: "Jeremy Corbyn's voice is much harder. We had an impressionist, he does loads of different impressions.

"He does a very good Boris Johnson impression, but for Jeremy Corbyn, his voice is not very distinctive, which makes it very difficult."

The group won't be releasing any more deepfake videos during the election campaign, Mr Chowdhury added.