Deepfakes Unveiled: Navigating the Line Between Reality and Deception

This course begins with an introduction to deepfakes, a form of synthetic media where artificial intelligence (AI) is used to replace a person in an existing image or video with someone else's likeness. Participants will explore the profound impact of deepfakes, particularly their darker aspects, such as their potential for misinformation, fraud, and privacy invasion.

The course delves into the sophisticated technology behind deepfakes, including the extraction of base features from generic data-such as facial structures, expressions, and movements-fine-tuning these features with personalized characteristics, and reconstructing target data for specific purposes. Participants will gain insights into modern methods for detecting deepfakes, including analyzing inconsistencies in lighting, shadows, and facial movements, as well as identifying properties unique to synthetic media.

Additionally, the course explores the existing legal frameworks that address deepfake-related issues, clarifying the application of intellectual property law, privacy law, defamation law, and other relevant areas to deepfake technology. Participants will also examine proposed legislation aimed at combating the misuse of deepfakes. This includes laws designed to prohibit the creation and distribution of malicious deepfakes, protecting specific victims, and imposing penalties on perpetrators.

Learning Objectives:

1. Review Deepfakes: Gain an understanding of deepfakes and the technology used to create them
2. Analyze Impact: Explore the potential for misinformation, fraud, and privacy invasion caused by deepfakes
3. Recognize Detection Methods: Learn cutting-edge methods for detecting deepfakes
4. Assess Legal Frameworks for Deterrence: Identify relevant legal areas and examine proposed legislation aimed at combating the misuse of deepfakes