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Original URL: As fake videos become more realistic, seeing shouldn't always be believing.
All it takes is a single selfie.
From that static image, an algorithm can quickly create a moving, lifelike avatar: a video not recorded, but fabricated from whole cloth by software.
With more time, Pinscreen, the Los Angeles start-up behind the technology, believes its renderings will become so accurate they will defy reality.
"You won't be able to tell," said Hao Li, a leading researcher on computer-generated video at USC who founded Pinscreen in 2015. "With further deep-learning advancements, especially on mobile devices, we'll be able to produce completely photoreal avatars in real time."
[...] Now imagine a phony video of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un announcing a missile strike. The White House would have mere minutes to determine whether the clip was genuine and whether it warranted a retaliatory strike.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 3, Insightful) by urza9814 on Tuesday October 09 2018, @12:18PM (14 children)
Ok, I can certainly see some problems from this kind of tech...but this seems like a really awful example. The only way they've got "minutes" to decide is if the announcement is made in a live broadcast. So supposing some idiot on the web gets their hands on this tech, they've still gotta fake a live broadcast from North Korea before it causes an intentional incident. It's not like you can mail the video to the NYT and say the missiles are going to hit five minutes after they open the envelope...and even if you did, are they really going to believe that THAT'S how Kim is distributing his message?
It's going to be much more useful for videos of a politician doing something stupid while they were in college. The kind of thing which can mysteriously surface online from an anonymous source. But the important distinction there is that these things aren't nearly as time-sensitive, which makes it much less of a crisis than the example wants us to think. At least for now...
(Of course, a state actor could fake that kind of live broadcast...but they also have the resources to hire a body double)
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday October 09 2018, @12:34PM (2 children)
Meh, useful would be putting my face on Ron Jeremy or Batman.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Tuesday October 09 2018, @01:24PM (1 child)
> my face on batman
about as useful as your face behind a guy fawkes mask, tbh.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 09 2018, @09:59PM
About as useful as a face on a bot? ;-)
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday October 09 2018, @12:35PM (7 children)
Now imagine thousands of launch detection assets with the capability to confirm/deny an actual launch, everything from satellite to ground based radar, ship based radar and in-country on the ground assets with eyes on the launch sites.
Sure, go on alert for the fake video, but anyone who takes action based solely upon a video announcement is beyond foolish.
Now, when Spectre builds a simulated NK ICBM and launches it from a site that could be NK controlled in concert with the fake video announcement, etc... that's a problem.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 09 2018, @12:45PM (1 child)
anyone who takes action based solely upon a video announcement is beyond foolish.
You do know who is president?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 09 2018, @01:20PM
He would probably assume its fakenews, like that recent nyt fiasco:
https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-us-canada-45798245 [bbc.com]
(Score: 2) by Bot on Tuesday October 09 2018, @01:29PM (1 child)
> anyone who takes action based solely upon a video announcement is beyond foolish
A kavanaugh in one, here.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 09 2018, @03:54PM
If he wasn't on a short leash we'd already have WWIII running with full nuclear deployment - not that he's eager to start it, just that he's inept enough to let it happen to him.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday October 09 2018, @06:00PM (2 children)
> anyone who takes action based solely upon a video announcement is beyond foolish.
Dumber than a flock of Palins.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday October 09 2018, @08:48PM (1 child)
Thankfully, Palin, GWB, Carrot Top, Slick Willie, Ronnie and the rest of them weren't as completely in control as they are portrayed to be in movies.
At least that's what I tell myself so I can sleep at night.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 10 2018, @09:06AM
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/14/could-anyone-stop-trump-from-launching-nukes-the-answer-no.html [cnbc.com]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/08/09/what-if-the-president-ordering-a-nuclear-attack-isnt-sane-a-major-lost-his-job-for-asking/ [washingtonpost.com]
In contrast the USSR had a saner system: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Hand [wikipedia.org]
It's easier to confirm you were nuked AFTER you were actually nuked and then retaliate, assuming the systems were designed properly to survive a nuclear strike.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by c0lo on Tuesday October 09 2018, @12:39PM
Since when do you think 4chan amateur trolls or the professional Yannopoulos care about veracity?
What's more dangerous in terms of probability? An instant overreaction of the Pentagon or the pressure of Fauxnews for the govt to do something, teach (a framed) NK a lesson?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 5, Insightful) by VLM on Tuesday October 09 2018, @12:53PM
If they're gonna false flag Iran they got months or years to perfect the leader of Iran ordering a launch, then the propaganda from our side will be "we only had minutes to decide to retaliate" After the leader of Iran is a cloud of nuclear vapor its not like he's gonna be able to point out whoopsies that was a fake video.
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Wednesday October 10 2018, @06:37PM