What Next?

Exponential CGI Realism?  The strategic question now becomes:  how quickly will the computer graphics and animation technology exponentially improve to the point that digital platform policies and governmental warnings are not rapid enough to mitigate the real-world impact upon distribution via social media of a “deeply realistic deepfake” in the foreseeable future? Think the evolution of special effects of Star Wars – Episode IV:  A New Hope to the eye-popping CGI in the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe release – on an exponentially expedited schedule with real-world geopolitical risks and impacts.  A troubling timeline.

Blockchain and Provenance:  That which fuels the NFTs craze can be applied to deepfakes.  According to the World Economic Forum,  Blockchain can help combat the threat of deep fakes. Here’s how.

The Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA):  According to the organization’s website, “the C2PA is a Joint Development Foundation project to collectively build an end-to-end open technical standard to provide publishers, creators, and consumers with opt-in, flexible ways to understand the authenticity and provenance of different types of media. C2PA opposes efforts to make content provenance measures mandatory.” In January, the C2PA announced a partnership with the technology sector – including companies such as Microsoft, Intel, BBC, The New York Times, Twitter, Nikon, Akamai, Fastly, and Adobe – to launch a new standard designed to address the development of deepfakes.   As first reported by The Record back in January:

“The first-of-its-kind specification grants content creators a means to develop what the organization calls “tamper-evident” media. It will work by providing platforms a way to define who created and changed information associated with images, videos, documents, and other assets, as well as identify evidence of manipulation. Andy Parsons, Senior Director of the Content Authenticity Initiative at Adobe, told The Record, ‘The C2PA expects its open standard to be broadly adopted across the content ecosystem – by device makers, news organizations, software and platform companies.’

In a live Q&A on Wednesday hosted by C2PA, lawmakers stressed the urgency around stopping the spread of deepfakes, which Sen. Robert Portman (R., OH) described as ‘hyper-realistic content depicting events that actually did not occur.’

Intel clarified that the specification alone will not completely rid the internet of deepfakes. Jennifer Foss, Communications Manager for Intel Corporation, told the record, ‘Provenance information is just one important piece that can be used in conjunction with many other technologies including deep fake detection technologies.’

Sen. Gary Peters (D., MI) said at the Wednesday panel that he considers deepfakes ‘a critical national security issue,’ referring to the manipulation of media content (images, videos, audio files, and documents) through artificial intelligence. The escalation of this tactic poses serious threats to consumers, including the spread of disinformation, weakened trust between users’ and companies, and a means to target women, the lawmakers said.”  (4)  The C2PA launched in February of 2021.

Further Resources:

To review C2PA case studies, see Case studies — Content Authenticity Initiative.

The C2Pa Foundational White Paper:  The Content Authenticity Initiative:  Setting the Standard for Digital Content Attribution

A Review of Visual Technology in 2021

Sources:

A new tech standard aims to combat deepfakes – The Record by Recorded Future

(1) Putin Deepfake Imagines Russian President Announcing Surrender | Snopes.com

(2) Deepfake presidents used in Russia-Ukraine war – BBC News

(3) Deepfake Of Zelensky Calling On Troops To Surrender Surfaces Online (dailydot.com)

(4)  A new tech standard aims to combat deepfakes – The Record by Recorded Future

Stay Informed

It should go without saying that tracking threats is critical to informing your actions. This includes reading our OODA Daily Pulse, which will give you insights into the nature of the threat and risks to business operations.

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