Deepfake Technology

Over the weekend I saw one of the best Deepfakes of my life.

If you don’t know, the deepfake definition is when you combine and superimpose existing images and videos onto source images or videos using a machine learning technique known as generative adversarial network. The phrase "deepfake" was coined in 2017.

This is what I saw on Twitter on Friday and it blew my mind:

I watched this video last night and it's still freaking me out. A deep fake where Bill Hader *turns into* Tom Cruise and Seth Rogan *while impersonating them*. (via @MohamedGhilan / Ctrl Shift Face on YouTube) pic.twitter.com/59evJ5Etfi

— Gavin Sheridan (@gavinsblog) August 12, 2019

Know I have know about deepfakes for awhile, but to be honest they are not normally that great. Last year I watched as Jordan Peele put words in Barack Obama’s mouth. But on Friday, what I saw was not just someone’s lips and vocals being altered. It was one of the first times my eyes actually deceived me. Deepfake technology is progressing really fast and I was intrigued by that Twitter thread. So I started to find some more deepfake examples:

This obviously works well with Bill Hader as he is an expert impressionist. Here he is again, this time deepfaking as Arnold Schwarzenegger brought to you by Youtuber, Ctrl Shift Face:

Spot on Arnie impersonation by Bill Hader Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ctrl_shift_face Twitter: https://twitter.com/ctrl_shift_face DISCLAIMER: No copyright is claimed in this video and to the extent that material may appear to be infringed, I assert that such alleged infringement is permissible under fair use principles in U.S. copyright laws.

Here is Jim Carrey deepfaking in The Shining:

Jim Carrey impersonates Jack Nicholson in this clip from The Shining. .. Not really, it's a deepfake. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ctrl_shift_face Twitter: https://twitter.com/ctrl_shift_face Ending music: Ray Noble Orchestra & Al Bowlly - Midnight, the Stars and You DISCLAIMER: No copyright is claimed in this video and to the extent that material may appear to be infringed, I assert that such alleged infringement is permissible under fair use principles in U.S.

And here is a young Sylvester Stallone deepfaking the role of Terminator:

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ctrl_shift_face Twitter: https://twitter.com/ctrl_shift_face DISCLAIMER: No copyright is claimed in this video and to the extent that material may appear to be infringed, I assert that such alleged infringement is permissible under fair use principles in U.S. copyright laws. If you believe material has been used in an unauthorized manner, please contact the poster.

2O21: A SPACEX ODYSSEY with Elon Musk is also another fun DeepFake of Stanley Kubricks masterpiece; 2001: A Space Odyssey. In this scene, Elon Musk gets in a fight with the infamous A.I. supercomputer, Hal.

There is a longer conversation to be had around the long term implications of this technology and how we ensure it is used responsibly.

You can find more of these deep fake example videos here. It actually turns out that the deepfake technology to do this has been open sourced on GitHub. So if you are interested in learning how to use deepfake AI yourself, you can view this deepfake github project and give it a shot.