Can you spot a deep fake? Latest technology makes it harder to catch

LEE COUNTY, Florida - Put simply, deep fakes use the latest technology to create pictures and videos that look like real life but are, in reality, far from it.

"It's now extremely easy to create realistic fake graphics," said Sylvia Chan-Olmsted, director of consumer media research at the University of Florida. "It's really capable of learning from looking at lots of images and recreating and recreating some kind of interchange and mask."

Take this viral deep fake for example.

What looks like a video of Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise swinging a golf club is actually a completely made-up video.

NBC2's Gage Goulding made an attempt to make a deep fake. With a video from NBC2 anchor Peter Busch and some footage of Tom Cruise in Top Gun, the process was under way.

It was around $ 15 and it took me two hours to make this video. Is it good enough to fool you?

It was in downtown Fort Myers that the first people to see the video fell for it.

"He kind of looks like a young Tom Cruise," said Sylvie Abot, who visits SWFL from Santa Cruz, California.

Measuring device: "What if I told you the video was fake?"

Sylvie: "Fake?"

Measuring device: "It's a fake video."

Sylvie: "Really?"

Measuring device: "Was it convincing?"

Sylvie: "Yeah, I was cool, this is your newscaster and he looks just like Tom Cruise and I believed it."

Emory Kerin, who lives in Naples, even bit the bait of the fake video.

Measuring device: "Did you ever look at it and say, 'Oh, that looks wrong?'"

Emory: "No."

Measuring device: "So did it look real?"

Emory: "Yes I think so."

But not everyone was so easily fooled. The website where the video was created has a watermark stamp in the lower right corner that says "THIS IS A FAKE VIDEO".

"Yeah, I believed it a bit until I saw the fake video sign," said NBC2 viewer and Fort Myers-based Jorge Ramirez. "At first I thought he was actually on the news."

So how can you be sure that the videos you are watching are not fake?

"You can use an AI program to automatically detect it," said Jun-Yan-Zhu, associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University. "It's hard for human eyes, but it's easy, still easy for machines."

One of his students, Sheng-Yu Wang, is developing a program to recognize AI-generated images.

"We can actually train a machine to see these little details that humans can't normally see," said Wang.

The technician can detect changes or distortions in areas of the face such as the eyes, chin and cheeks.

It can even "undo" the forgery so you can see the original image.

"We can actually train a model to do things that are so powerful," said Wang.

Researchers at the University of Florida said anyone could fall for deep fakes.

“We say, 'I'll believe it when I see it. 'If you cannot trust what you see, how do you find a basis for common understanding and belief? Said Janet Coats, executive director of the University Consortium for Trust in Media and Technology.

But the older you get, the better the chance that you will believe what you see.

"Older people are generally much more likely to fall for disinformation, misinformation and false news than younger people," said Coats.

As technology improves, it becomes more dangerous. It could damage reputation and affect important things like elections.

The pros always said look where you can get the video.

If it's from a trusted source, it's likely legitimate. If not, and especially if you notice unnatural or uncomfortable movements in the video, don't trust him.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0nupoR_BXo[/embed]

The technology used for deep fake videos is not always used for evil. There are some really cool and useful benefits to the technology that you may have seen without even realizing it.

Professor Jun-Yan Zhu uses the example of the award-winning film "The Life of Pi".

"It took 100 visual artists 12 months and a budget of $ 60 million to create this film," said Professor Jun-Yan Zhu.

The film consists mainly of scenes with visual effects. Graphic artists use a similar technology that creates deep counterfeiting.

One of the best examples is the tiger in the movie.

"From the skeleton to the geometry to the texturing of very small details such as tiger skin so that people can perceive this tiger as a realistic tiger," said the professor.

Another great example is the beautiful Horseshoe Bend in Arizona.

It's beautiful, isn't it? And it looks a lot like SWFL this time of year, hot!

But how about Horseshoe Bend with snow?

No, this is not real life, but just another example of how things can change in seconds right before your very eyes.

"This allows artists to quickly create a scene in a movie," said Professor Zhu. "You can change the weather, you can change the characteristics of the scene."

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