EDITORIAL — Beware of the deepfakes

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has just directed our military to take offensive action against a foreign country.

Well, that’s according to a fake audio clip circulating online anyway.

"It has come to the attention of the Presidential Communications Office that there is video content posted on a popular video streaming platform circulating online that has manipulated audio designed to sound like President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr... The audio deepfake attempts to make it appear as if the President has directed our Armed Forces of the Philippines to act against a particular foreign country. No such directive exists nor has been made," PCO said in a statement last Tuesday.

Deepfake is the term for a range of technologies that can be used to manipulate sounds and images. For the sound part it can be used to simulate or fake voices. All you need is a few words or even just key syllables spoken by someone to totally replicate that person’s voice --and anyone who knows how can string syllables and words together to create entire fake messages.

There is more sophisticated deepfake technology that can take someone’s face and “anchor” it on another person’s body. This has been used to make celebrities, politicians, and prominent persons dance, goof around, or do anything they won’t usually do.

But it gets even scarier. Some technologies can actually simulate someone’s face down the smallest detail, give it enough animation to make it look real and, of course, say anything they want it to say.

Deepfakes have actually been used for entertainment and even pornography. Sadly it has also even been used to deliver news by not-so-honest “news” agencies.

And because it uses the voices and images of real and famous people, often or most likely without their consent, or to spread messages or push for advocacies they would never do otherwise, there is no end to the ethical issues regarding deepfakes.

This only shows that now, more than ever, we need to verify if anything is true before we believe it or, better yet, before we spread it online. We should not always readily believe any information unless confirmed by multiple reliable sources.

This is the age of information, misinformation, and even disinformation. Some people now think nothing of telling lies to achieve their ends, or are willing to use the best of tools to manipulate information. We must not be putty in their hands.