Deep Fakes — there is panic in the air …

Little Adam Schitt speaking @ House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) discussed foreign policy and national security challenges at the Council on Foreign… june 4, 2019 via c-span

https://www.c-span.org/video/?461369-1/house-intelligence-committee-chair-adam-schiff-discusses-foreign-policy

“WE WERE TALKING BACKSTAGE ABOUT WHAT I MIGHT START OUT WITH FOR A FEW COMMENTS. SO LET ME START BY TELLING YOU ABOUT A HEARING WILL HAVE NEXT WEEK ON THE SUBJECT OF DEEP FAKES. IT IS A FAIRLY NEW TECHNOLOGY THAT ALLOWS YOU TO CREATE VERY REALISTIC AUDIO OR VIDEO THAT IS ALMOST INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM THE REAL, BUT THAT IS COMPLETELY FORGED. I GUESS TO GO BACK AND EXPLAIN WHY THIS IS OF GREAT INTEREST AND CONCERN TO THE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE, I WOULD TAKE YOU BACK TO 2016, AS WE WERE WATCHING THE RUSSIANS IN REAL-TIME DUMPING DOCUMENTS THAT THEY HAD HACKED FROM THE DNC AND THE DCC. THE DOMINANT CONCERN I HAD AT THE TIME WAS THAT THEY WERE GOING TO DUMP FORGERIES AMONG THE REAL DOCUMENTS. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN VERY EASY TO DO. TO TAKE A REAL EMAIL BETWEEN TWO REAL CLINTON CAMPAIGN WORKERS AND INSERT A COMPLETELY FRAUDULENT PARAGRAPH, SUGGESTING THAT THE CAMPAIGN WAS ENGAGED IN ILLEGALITY. YOU CAN IMAGINE HOW INCENDIARY THAT WOULD BE, AND HOW NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE IT WOULD BE TO DISPROVE THE ACCURACY OF THAT FORGED EMAIL. AFTER ALL, THESE TWO PEOPLE EXISTED. YOU COULD CORROBORATE OTHER THINGS IN THE EMAIL, AND IN A HIGHLY POLARIZED ENVIRONMENT, YOU CAN IMAGINE JUST HOW DISRUPTIVE THAT WOULD BE. WELL COME THAT CAPABILITY FOR DISRUPTION, AND BY THE WAY, AS FAR AS WE COULD TELL, THE VAST MAJORITY OF WHAT THE RUSSIANS DUMPED WERE AUTHENTIC, STOLEN, YES, BUT AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. THERE WAS NOTHING TO PREVENT THEM FROM ESCALATING THE LAST TIME, NOTHING TO PREVENT THEM FROM ESCALATING THE NEXT TIME. NEXT TIME IT COULD BE THE INTRODUCTION OF A DEEP FAKE, A VIDEO OF THE CANDIDATES SAYING SOMETHING THEY NEVER SAID. YOU CAN JUST SEE WHAT THAT WOULD PLAY OUT LIKE, HOW YOU WOULD HAVE GOOD EXPERTS WHO MIGHT BE WILLING TO MAKE PUBLIC TESTIMONY THAT AFTER ANALYZING THIS END USING THE STRONGEST A.I., THEY DETERMINED THE FACT THAT THIS VIDEO OF JOE BIDEN, OR THIS VIDEO OF BERNIE SANDERS, OR WHOEVER, WAS IN FACT A FORGERY. BECAUSE IF YOU LOOK AT HOW THEY BLINK, OR IF YOU ANALYZE THEIR SPEECH PATTERN OR HOW THEIR FACE MOVES WHEN THEY SPEAK, IT IS INCONSISTENT WITH HOW THE REAL PERSON DOES IT. HOW ON OTHER CHANNELS, THEY WOULD SAY EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE THING. AND THE PUBLIC WOULD BE LEFT TO DOUBT. PSYCHOLOGISTS WILL TELL YOU A MOTHER, EVEN WHEN YOU ARE PERSUADED THAT YOU HAVE SEEN IS NOT REAL, THE DAMAGE IS ALREADY DONE TO SOME DEGREE. YOU WILL NEVER SHAKE THE LINGERING IMPRESSION YOU HAVE. WHICH IS WHAT IT WAS DISTURBING TO SEE A WEEK OR TWO AGO THIS DOCTORED VIDEO OF NANCY PELOSI, THE VIDEO THAT WAS SLOW DOWN BUT ALSO MADE REALISTIC ON SIMPLY JUST SLOWING DOWN THE SPEED TO MAKE IT LOOK LIKE SHE WAS HER WORDS, OR DRUNK, OR IMPAIRED IN THE SOME WAY. AND WHY WHEN THE PRESIDENT CONTINUES TO PUSH IT OUT OF HIS TWITTER ACCOUNT, WE ARE ON SUCH TREACHEROUS GROUND. THAT IS WHAT IS CALLED A CHEAP FAKE, VERY EASY AND SIMPLE TO MAKE. REAL CONTENT IS JUST DOCTORED. BUT IF YOU LOOK BACK AT HOW IMPACTFUL THAN MITT ROMNEY VIDEOTAPE ABOUT THE 47% WAS, YOU CAN IMAGINE HOW I VIDEOTAPE THAT IS MORE INCENDIARY COULD BE ELECTION-ALTERING. THIS WOULD BE THE FUTURE WE ARE HEADING INTO. WHEN YOU COMBINE THAT WITH THE FACT THAT THE PARTY HAVE A PRESIDENT WAS SAYS THE THINGS THAT ARE REAL, LIKE THE ACCESS HOLLYWOOD TAPE OR FAKE, AND THINGS THAT ARE FAKE LIKELY PELOSI TAPE, HE PUSHES OUT AS REAL. WHEN HE HAS A PRESIDENTIAL LAWYER SAYING TRUTH IS NOT TRUTH, AND SPOKESPERSON KELLYANNE CONWAY SAYING THAT THEY ARE ENTITLED TO THEIR OWN ALTERNATE FAX. AND THEN THERE IS WHAT SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS DOES EVERY DAY, WE ARE IN AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE THE TRUTH IS UNDER ASSAULT. AND IN THAT CONTEXT, THERE IS WHAT IS CALLED THE LIARS EVIDENT – LIARS DIVIDEND. PEOPLE WHO ARE LYING ON THE TIME CAN HIDE BEHIND THE FACT THAT THE WE CAN TELL ANYMORE WHAT IS REALLY TRUE. I CANNOT IMAGINE ANYTHING MORE CORROSIVE TO OUR DEMOCRACY, THAN AN IMPAIRMENT IN WHICH NO ONE CAN TELL WHAT IS TRUE ANYMORE, AND YOU SIMPLY RETREAT TO YOUR TRIBE AND VIEW EVERYTHING AS TRUE OR FALSE DEPENDING ON WHAT PARTY YOU BELONG TO OR WHAT GROUP YOU BELONG TO. SO WE WILL BE EXPLORING THAT NEXT WEEK. THIS IS, I THINK, ONE OF THE TECHNOLOGIES ON THE HORIZON. IT IS REALLY ALREADY HERE. IT IS A RACE BETWEEN THE A.I. TO CREATE THEM AND THE A.I. TO DETECT THEM, BUT IT IS SOMETHING WE WILL CERTAINLY BE PAYING ATTENTION TO AND ALL NEED TO BE AWARE OF.”

{the all cap’s are directly from c-span]