What do marketers need to know about video deepfakes

If you've heard the term "deepfake," you might immediately be thinking of illegally opaque, fraudulent or downright disturbing videos that have been circulating around the web over the past few years. But as deepfake videos as well as the AI technology used to power these videos continue to get sophisticated, it's essential that marketers and creators across every sector understand the ways they function and ways to use them in order to keep ahead in the ever-changing environment.

If you're not familiar with the term, deepfakes are synthetic media that has been created digitally and altered to alter the appearance of a person convincingly, resulting in the capability to make videos that appear and feel like real yet don't. This is why it's normal that they may get a bad rap for spreading misinformation or exploiting the likenesses of people.

As with any other technology it's all about how you make use of it. Innovative marketers and creatives have already begun using the technology of deepfake -- in a responsible and ethical manner-to make new artistic forms as well as tell brand new stories and enhance their video campaigns.

In this article this article, we'll discuss some examples of deepfake technology being used to benefit society in addition to suggestions for how you can experiment with the tech yourself.

What's a fake fake?

A deepfake can be described as a video or audio file of a person whose face or body has been digitally changed. Deepfakes make use of AI to produce a sense of likeness using pattern recognition to identify facial tones, expressions as well as movement.

The other terms used to describe a fake may refer to synthetic or artificial media, or AI-generated media.

 A brief history of deepfakes

The invention of the Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) began the trend of realistic deepfakes back in 2014. GANs comprise two artificial intelligence agents that create fake images and identify forgeries, allowing the AI to develop over time.

They can also be made with a deep learning computer network called a variational auto-encoder (VAE). VAEs can be trained to encode images to low-density representations of the subject, and later decode those representations and convert them into images that move.

The term "deepfake" was coined in 2017, and in 2018 media massed sounded the alarm over deepfakes and viral videos, with the first fake videos of Barack Obama and Donald Trump making the rounds through social networks.

But deepfakes also have uses which are becoming increasingly relevant for everyday marketers - not just hackers or online trolls who try to spread false information.

What are the effects of deepfakes?

Machine-learning AI is a critical component of the process of making a deepfake. Deepfakes rely on this technology to detect trends in images as well as information.

To create a fake deepfake video, an artist needs to provide these machine learning algorithm with a lot of footage. This then trains the deep neural network to recognize tones, patterns facial expressions, tone more. Next, it is time to combine those learnings with graphics.

It doesn't take much to build a fake deepfake. simply existing videos or audio of the person you want to replicate. While it could appear difficult initially, constructing a deepfake doesn't require complicated tools - only basic graphic design knowledge and video editing skills.

Artful examples of video-based deepfakes

Marketers are at the beginning stage of using deepfakes and other AI technologies for video and digital marketing. The following deepfake examples don't precisely fit into the marketing toolkit just yet, but they showcase the power of these AI technologies right now.

 1. Chris Shimojima's "Dolche Big Man"

The stunning Staff Picked music video from filmmaker Chris Shimojima takes deepfake technology and flips it on its head, using faces from 14 different performers (and 40 other contributions) to create a compelling tale. The result is an artful and unexpected blend of technology and human expression.

 2. David Beckham's numerous different

Malaria Needs to Die used AI to influence soccer superstar David Beckham to speak in nine languages. They used deepfake technology in order to create a big splash and markedly increase their campaign's reach.

 3. Salvador Dali's museum greeting

It took nearly 1,000 hours of machine learning to enable the Dali museumMuseum to create their version of deep fake Salvador Dali just the way they want it. The new technology gives visitors to museums a new perspective and allows them to gain knowledge about art from the artist himself!

Three everyday applications for deepfake technology for video

While some applications of deepfakes are beyond an typical marketer's capabilities, there are many creative and innovative ways you can use deepfake technology in your job.

• Correct sloppy lines within posts: For anyone with only a little editing knowledge You've experienced the struggles and frustrations of putting together edited audio clips from a conversational interview. Whether your subject misspoke or simply didn't answer with a full sentence, using deepfake technology to fill in the gaps is a great option to keep your post-production process moving without the need for reshoots. (Just make sure you get the subject's permission first and of course!)
   
  
• Personalize customer videos on a large the scale of: Marketers can implement an easy way to personalize their video greetings or promotional videos that feature prospects' names or the names of their companies. All you need is the names of your prospects and sufficient audio recorded from your camera to use deepfake technology in incorporating it to the video.
   
  
• Translate your video Deepfake technology introduces a brand new dimension of effortless translation. Instead of relying on subtitles, artificial intelligence can introduce spoken-language translations, either created from an audio library or the initial actor's voice.

Technology advances, and new possibilities

It's impossible to know for certain what the future of AI is going to bring however there is one thing that's for certain: deepfakes aren't going anywhere. Like other AI-powered tech (chatGPT, anyone? ) People who are willing to experiment with deepfakes with eyes wide open to the possibility of pitfalls, will be well-suited to be competitive in the ever-changing video landscape.