Virginia, California and Texas have passed laws against the use of deepfake, the digital altering of one’s face or body so that the person appears to be someone else.
The Commonwealth of Va. has passed a law that bans deepfake pornography.
Texas has banned the use of deepfake specifically created to influence elections.
Calif. has a law on the books against the malicious use of deep fake 60 days prior to an election and the use anytime for nonconsensual deepfake pornography.
The international community has come to recognize the increasing danger of A. I. and the manipulation of pixels that can produce misleading videos.
Deepfake can be weaponized against a candidate, making it appear that something that never happened did happen.
Cyber-criminals have learned to use the technology as a tool for phishing attacks, financial fraud and identity theft. Phishing is used by those on the internet who are pretending to be reputable entities while luring others to provide them with vital information that they can use to commit fraudulent acts.
Unscrupulous radicals can use deep synthesis technology as fake news and the manipulation of information to create political unrest.
The use of deepfake needs to be accompanied by the authentication that identifies the real person to avoid misunderstanding.
Anyone who is not familiar with deepfake can view an example of digital manipulation via A I by visiting YouTube and viewing Simon Cowell of “America’s Got Talent” sitting at the judges’ table as Metaphysic and Daniel Emmet use A I to project onto a huge screen what appears to be the televised image of Cowell singing what Emmet, an opera singer, is actually singing at the time.
The danger of synthetic media in which by manipulation of imagery reality can be masked and packaged in a way to fool and influence others can damage reputations, create chaos and aid cyber-criminals.