The Alarming World of Deepfakes: When Audio and Video Isn’t Real

An expert panel discussed deepfakes, which raise big questions on what is real online. The challenge: How to verify what we see and hear?

From presidential press briefings to eyewitness accounts of a house fire, journalists and our audiences routinely rely on remotely gathered and transmitted audio and video to verify what people say and do.

But the ability to digitally manipulate faces, voices and scenes – known as deepfake technology – has now evolved to the point where it is virtually impossible to tell a fake from the genuine article. The real-life consequences are only starting to become apparent.

What are deepfakes? What impact will they have on the newsgathering process? How are they constructed? How can you detect them? On the flip side, is there any good that can come from deepfake technology? What steps can journalists take today to protect their content from manipulation?

PANELISTS:

Ashish Jaiman, technology specialist, Microsoft – @ashishjaiman

Jareen Imam, former director of social newsgathering, NBC News – @JareenAI

Emma Cillekens, Deadline Club board member, senior producer of MIT tech podcast “In Machines We Trust” – @emmacillekens

CO-MODERATORS – Both Deadline Club past presidents

Steve Dunlop, former anchor/correspondent, CBS News, Reuters, NBC and Fox 5 New York – @dunlopmedia

Robert Anthony, veteran consumer tech columnist; former senior writer, PC Magazine – @newyorkbob

RSVP here: https://bit.ly/3sbnJjk