of a multinational company received an email from the company’s CFO in the U.K. about a secret business deal, the employee was immediately on alert. It didn’t feel right.
Many of us have been in a similar position where we receive a fishy email that doesn’t sit well. However, the employee’s fears were allayed when he joined a video call with the CFO and other corporate executives. He was let in on the confidential business deal and began following orders to transfer funds to various bank accounts.The “executives” the employee had seen in the video conference call were deepfakes, or AI-generated synthetic media.
This example is one of many that have raised global concerns about deepfake technology and its malicious use in society. How prevalent are they, and what can business leaders do to reduce the risk of a deepfake scam? To understand what deepfakes are capable of, it’s important to have an understanding of various types of deepfakes and their purpose, including:This involves using AI language models to generate fake text that mimics the writing style of a person or entity.Bad actors use AI to create fake online personas with generated images, video, audio and text that support their identity.