As a person living in the social media era, you must’ve heard about deepfake technology. The realistic fake videos and audios of celebrities and world leaders making rounds on the internet are not strange to us. In recent years, technology has picked up significantly, with increasing scandals worldwide.
This AI-powered technology enables face swapping in videos and voice cloning to mimic real people. However, despite having a negative connotation, deepfake technology is widely used by entertainment businesses and marketers. Moreover, video game designers, singers, and customer support teams make up some legitimate deepfake users.
The only difference? People using the deepfake technology positively follow ethical and moral responsibilities. Let’s learn all about how you can also use this technology to your benefit while considering its fair use protocol. So, dive right in!
In this article
What is a Deepfake?
Deepfake is a type of synthetic media that uses AI and deep learning to create or manipulate highly realistic video or audio content. It involves swapping a person's face and voice with someone else's, often making it difficult to distinguish the fake from reality. The term "deepfake" was first coined by a Reddit user in late 2017 who shared pornographic videos using open-source face-swapping technology.
How Deepfakes Work?
Deepfakes uses AI and deep learning to create or alter videos and audio. Most commonly, the video deepfake technology is based on neural networks like a variational auto-encoder or VAE that identifies the specific attributes of the character like body movements and facial expressions. Once analyzed, the system then imposes these videos onto the source video.
Simply put, the process involves,
- Training an AI model on a target person's images or videos.
- Mapping the target's face or voice onto someone else in a video.
- Refining the final output for realism.
Let’s understand this with an example. You are making a comic deepfake of Michael Jackson. The system will need two encoders, one that is trained on Jackson’s real face and the other trained on various other faces.
The system will then put the faces in the training sets and apply facial recognition algorithms to video frames. It will help analyze poses, expressions, and lights. Once the training is done, both the encoder and decoder are implemented on Michael Jackson's face and you will get a deepfake.
Apart from autoencoders, here are some other popular approaches to creating deepfakes.
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Audio Deepfakes involves using GAN voice clones to create a model based on the vocal patterns of the target. It then uses AI algorithms to make the created voice say anything the creator wants.
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Lip Syncing in deepfake usually means mapping a voice recording to the video. This way, it seems like the person in the video is speaking the words. If the audio itself is generated using deepfake, it will be called the recurrent neural network, as there is an additional layer of deception.
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Video Editing Software: These video editing software mostly use AI technology to refine the videos and make adjustments. Mostly, entertainment businesses and advertisers prefer such tools for fake video assets.
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Natural Language Processing involves creating a deepfake audio. It uses advanced NLP algorithms to analyze the speech patterns of the target and produce an original text using those patterns.
How to Deepfake Your Face and Voice?
The easiest way to deepfake a video is by using video editing software like Wondershare Virbo. Its custom avatar function helps you craft deepfake for entertainment purposes, like video games, celebrity memes, and more.
Let’s see how you can deep fake your face and voice using this tool.
Step 1Upload Your Video
Go to the Virbo Custom Avatar page and start creating. Name your clone avatar, provide your email, and upload a video of the person you want to deepfake.
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While making the deepfake, follow these guidelines for the video.
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Length: 1–5 minutes (required)
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Format: MP4, 9:16 or 16:9, 1080P resolution
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Environment: Well-lit and quiet
Instructions
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Look directly into the camera.
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Pause with your mouth closed between sentences.
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Use natural gestures, keeping your hands below your chest.
Step 2Start the Cloning Process
Once done, click Submit Training to begin. The deepfake process for the face and voice takes 2–3 business days.
Step 3Use Your Custom Avatar
Now that it’s ready, we’ll email you and add the avatar to your library. You can then use it in Wondershare Virbo for video creation.
3 Best Deepfake Websites
Deepfaking a video is not illegal! And, some legitimate websites are your call to ensure its usage is within moral bounds. Check out these top three deepfake websites and responsibly use the technology to craft creative assets like ads, video games audio, and more.
1. Deepfakes Web
Deepfakes Web is an online platform that uses artificial intelligence to generate deepfake videos. It allows users to upload source videos and facial images to create videos where a new face is superimposed onto existing content. What makes it stand out is its realistic deepfakes generated by mimicking facial expressions and movements in real-time.
Key Features
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Real-Time Video Synthesis that mimics facial expressions and movements in real-time.
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Audio Synchronization to sync the generated video and audio for seamless lip movement.
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Advanced Editing Options for fine-tuning videos for a realistic deepfake.
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Privacy Protection, to keep content from unauthorized access using robust security measures.
2. Wondershare Virbo
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Want realistic avatars to become your brand’s unique face and audio? Try Wondershare Virbo. It is a video editing software that uses advanced AI capabilities for personalized deep fake voice models and realistic text-to-speech solutions.
The platform uses voice samples to replicate the nuances of a person's voice, including inflection and accent. What’s even better is that it supports various applications like voiceovers, virtual avatars, and multilingual content creation.
Virbo's Custom Avatar feature allows users to produce personalized AI deep fake face avatars tailored to their specific needs. Not only this, but it gives you full control over the character’s appearance, voice, and movements to align it with the desired persona.
Key Features
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Real-Time Expressions: Mimics a wide variety of facial expressions and emotions to ensure realism and authenticity in interactions.
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Speech Synthesis: Generate speech that matches your chosen voice and style. Mimic human’s natural speech, flow, and intonation for entertainment purposes.
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Tone Recognition: Virbo’s advanced avatars analyze different vocal tones and cues to identify and mimic emotions, attitudes, and rhythms in the speech.
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Advanced Customization Kit: Choose from thousands of voice clones, facial features, body shapes, hairstyles, and more for a personalized avatar. Experiment with pitch rhythm, and pronunciation to get a realistic outcome.
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Security and Ethics: Implementation of robust security measures, including recorded consent, a ban on the use of existing footage, and exclusive avatars.
3. Reface.ai
Reface.ai is yet another software for face swap content creation. It uses advanced AI to enable deep fake face swapping, video restyling, and artistic transformations.
One of its best-selling features, the AI face swap and generation, lets users upload photos to transform their appearances by swapping faces. So, create avatars, profile pictures, or have fun transformations, just for entertainment.
Key Features
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Use AI filters to turn still images into dancing, sporting, or acting videos.
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Transform your videos into fun animated characters for entertainment.
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Use style-based image generation to let the software create highly realistic portraits.
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It automatically deletes your input data from the server after 48 hours to maintain privacy.
Remember! Using deepfake technology comes with ethical considerations, especially given its potential for misuse. Hence, it’s important to keep yourself updated about the potential legal and moral consequences of abusing deepfakes. Many platforms have policies against the misuse of deepfakes, so review terms of service and content policies before creating or sharing such content to ensure safety.
Ethical Considerations of Deepfakes
Despite being legal and used widely for entertainment purposes, deepfakes pose significant dangers when used with ill intent, including.
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Non-consensual pornography and exploitation
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Spreading misinformation and manipulating public opinion
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Damaging reputations and causing emotional distress
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Undermining trust in media and institutions
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Potential for fraud, blackmail, and other crimes
Who is at Risk of a Deepfake?
In today’s world, deepfakes do not seem like an alien concept. Watching viral videos of famous celebrities having their face swapped off, may seem like the technology is only prevalent in Hollywood. However, it’s far from the truth.
Today, deepfake video targets are not just celebrities and influential government leaders, but ordinary people. Francesa Panetta, the XR creative director at the MIT Center for Advanced Virtuality, said that it might be you or your friend.
Deepfake videos used for defamation, blackmailing, and ruining reputation are a big evil. Therefore, it’s time we be realistic and take preventive measures to maintain our privacy.
We encourage everyone to follow ethical guidelines for deepfake technology, avoid malicious use, and refrain from spreading harmful content. It is significant to respect others' privacy and likeness rights and use such tools responsibly.
How to Spot a Deepfake?
One way of saving yourself is detecting deepfakes. Though challenging due to the technology’s continuous advancement, it is not impossible. Here are several methods and indicators that can help you spot potential deepfakes.
Visual Cues
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Unnatural eye movements or blinking patterns.
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Inconsistent lighting or shadows on the face.
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Blurry or changing facial features, especially around the edges.
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Unnatural skin texture or color.
Audio Indicators
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Unnatural speech patterns of intonation.
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Mismatched lip movements with audio.
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Inconsistent background noise or audio quality.
Contextual Analysis
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Check the source of the video and its credibility.
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Look for corroborating evidence from multiple reliable sources.
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Consider the context and likelihood of the content being genuine.
Technical Methods
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Use deepfake detection software that analyzes video metadata and patterns.
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Examine the video frame-by-frame for inconsistencies.
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Look for digital artifacts or compression anomalies.
Behavioral Inconsistencies
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Observe uncharacteristic gestures or expressions.
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Check for inconsistencies in speech patterns or vocabulary use.
Fact-Checking
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Cross-reference claims made in the video with reliable sources.
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Verify the timeline and context of the alleged event.
Conclusion
While deepfake technology offers creative possibilities, its potential for misuse presents significant societal challenges. Therefore, it is essential to respect others' privacy and likeness rights, and to use deepfake technology responsibly, creating authentic, original, and ethical content.
One way to ensure data protection is opting for legitimate tools like Deepfakes Web and Wondershare Virbo. Such tools are developed to help you build creative assets for entertainment and marketing purposes, with strict data usage policies.