People attending the Copenhagen Democracy Summit 2019 were in for quite a twist when, during a panel event featuring Facebook’s Head of Global Affairs Nick Clegg, a “Skype call” from US President Donald Trump himself, which turned out to be a deepfake video, was played to the audience.
"No one loves democracy as much as I do - that’s why God elected me", the caller said, with Boston Globe columnist Indira Lakshmanan revealing that the video was “made to show danger” posed by AI and disinformation to elections and politics.
News of this development quickly sent ripples across social media, with many taking note of the occurrence and what it might portend.
Earlier this month, MIT Technology Review revealed that a team of researchers in the United States managed to develop a new digital forensics technique that can effectively protect world leaders and celebrities from deepfake videos of themselves.