Detecting deepfakes: MSU expert can discuss Facebook research collaboration

Deepfakes, they’re interesting, entertaining and also deeply concerning for security officials. And as the technology behind deepfakes continues to refine and improve its delivery – researchers and social media giants are reacting quickly and trying to keep pace with the potentially troublesome technology.

Recently, CNBC featured the work of MSU’s Xiaoming Liu and researchers from Facebook, who developed a model that pulls back the curtain of who is creating deepfakes.

Artificial intelligence researchers at Facebook and Michigan State University say they have developed a new piece of software that can reveal where so-called deepfakes have come from.

Deepfakes are videos that have been digitally altered in some way with AI. They’ve become increasingly realistic in recent years, making it harder for humans to determine what’s real on the internet, and indeed Facebook, and what’s not.

The Facebook researchers claim that their AI software — announced on Wednesday — can be trained to establish if a piece of media is a deepfake or not from a still image or a single video frame. Not only that, they say the software can also identify the AI that was used to create the deepfake in the first place, no matter how novel the technique.

Tal Hassner, an applied research lead at Facebook, told CNBC that it’s possible to train AI software “to look at the photo and tell you with a reasonable degree of accuracy what is the design of the AI model that generated that photo.”

The research comes after MSU realized last year that it’s possible to determine what model of camera was used to take a specific photo — Hassner said that Facebook’s work with MSU builds on this. June 16 – CNBC

There’s a lot to learn about deepfakes, the concerns about the technology and what can be done to ensure the technology doesn’t create havoc or confusion in elections or any other form of communications – and if you are a journalist looking to know more, our experts are here to help.

Xiaoming Liu a MSU Foundation Professor and is an expert when it comes on computer vision, machine learning, and biometrics, especially on face related analysis. Dr. Liu is available to speak to media about deep-fake technology – simply click on his icon now to arrange an interview today.