Can deep fakes change the course of history?

Some time back, Taylor Swift became the first billionaire with “music as the main source of income”. She was the 2023 Time Person of the Year. She has sold nearly 14 million tickets for her live shows, which is more than both Madonna and Beyoncé. In 2023, she was the most streamed artist on Spotify. But despite her power, clout and wealth, she was unable to counter AI generated fake images of her which were pornographic in nature. These lewd and disgusting images flooded the Internet and authorities all over the world were still left wondering how they would counter the destructive power of AI and all the damage that it could unleash. 

But what can be done? The top Big Tech players of the world are creating better and better GenAI tools where both positive and negative content can be created. Millions can now actually create fake content. Big Social Media players easily allow for the dissemination of fakes to billions overnight. Who do you crack down upon? Who do you regulate? Millions of citizens? Dozens of billion-dollar companies? These numbers will only rise with each passing year. In India film star Smriti Mandhana’s deep fake video went viral.

While fake porn is scary, so is fake propaganda. In 2024 two of the world’s largest democracies are going to polls. Will any deep fake political videos be made? Will they be effective? Will they change the course of history? Even if we survive 2024, the same questions will be asked in 2025 and the years to come.

One thing is the will of governments to crack down on AI deep fakes. The second is the art of actually making the right legislation and regulation. Finally: Is the policing authority’s ability to identify the source and crack down in a short time up to the mark? It’s quite a tricky affair and all the countries of the world will be severely tested.

Another problem is that everyone wants to use the power of AI to further their cause. The misuse may not just come from bad citizens, criminals and rogue agents, but from governments and large companies. Then what do you do? Take a look at the spyware Pegasus, which is a legal tool for governments all over the world? How many innocent citizens have been spied upon?

The power of AI looks set for an exponential growth and we may still be clueless on how to handle it.