Deepfakes — Were You Fooled By This One?

Our world is under a lot of pressure today.

• COVID-19 and the uncertainty of a second wave.
• Tragic deaths and widespread protests.
• Great tension and debate over law enforcement practices.
• Unemployment and wondering whether businesses will be able to come back.
• Volatility in the financial markets.
• Politics that may be more polarized than I can ever remember.

Unfortunately there seem to be lots of people who are doing anything and everything to make these problems worse instead of talking about how we can work together to make the world better.

A couple of days ago, some people sent a video out to everyone on their mailing list that supposedly showed an interview with Joe Biden on the television show The View.

This caused a lot of reactions, and many of the people who received the video forwarded it along to others, who probably forwarded it to even more people and more people.

And shortly thereafter, someone else responded with a link to the real and unedited interview on YouTube.

I’ve given talks about the capabilities of Deepfake technology and how dangerous it can be.

It’s time for everyone to be very careful, especially with an upcoming election in the United States.

First, here’s the very much edited and controversial video. As you watch it, please notice the watermark in the upper right-hand corner…

Were you fooled?

Did you see the text “Daily Caller News Foundation Comedy”?

Apparently many people didn’t, and even if they did, they didn’t take the time to check the source.

Here is the real interview on YouTube:

It’s not my intention to be political, or to take one side over the other.

But we all need to understand the dangers that can come when it’s so easy to edit video, audio, and photos.

Please think before you react.

Please verify before you post.

Let’s all do what we can to lower the pressures and tensions we all feel right now, and do the right things for the world.