- Deepfake is becoming a widely-accepted technology.
- Blockchain could be a key to solving deepfake problems.
- Elon Musk has become the target of deepfake videos.
Have you come across any video that promotes a particular app or tech? It is from your favorite celebrity. But, we are not talking about official endorsements. There is a deepfake revolution where people can use popular influencers and celebrities to sell off things or create hype. It is leaving a negative impact on the world.
There have been two recent instances. Elon Musk was seen asking people to send Bitcoin (BTC) to a wallet, and the senders would receive 2 BTC in exchange. That’s an obvious fake for most people.
But then, we saw another video of Elon Musk explaining BitVex, a new, or fake, cryptocurrency. It was more realistic than anything we had ever seen before. As a result, the foundation of the NFT world was shaken.
What Is Deepfake Technology?
Deepfake is a collection of tools, software, or technology, which often utilizes AI. The objective is to transform an image or video, almost with realistic replication. Basically, you could use your face in any video and on any person in that video or photo.
Another common term for this is ‘Photoshopping.’ However, Photoshopping has always been a more playful and less harmful act. It was where you would often photoshop yourself around some robots or new scenery. The best you would do is enhance your face and body and make it look dreamy.
Deepfake technology doesn’t just allow you to manipulate pre-existing videos and images but also create new ones. For instance, in the BitVex incident, Elon Musk wasn’t explaining cryptocurrency. It was someone else who managed to use deep fake to look like Elon Musk. They could even replicate the voice, and that is saying something.
The DeepSwap App
Even though we don’t want to point fingers, DeepSwap is the platform that made deepfake technology more mainstream. People could upload their images, or selfies, in short videos and see themselves as their favorite avatars. Examples are deep faking your face in the face of the hulk. Doing something similar with Thor, and so on.
Unfortunately, the intention of the DeepSwap app was to be harmless and something for fun. But the internet community has shown us that anything can be misused.
DeepSwap’s popularity directly impacted the deep fake’s addition to the mainstream media. Something that should be frowned upon turned into something more of a widely accepted activity.
The Impact Of Deepfake In the NFT World
We already had two instances where Elon Musk was used to promote something or scam people. It would be easier for anyone to replicate anyone. You could create a promotional video using deep fake technology and a celebrity or influencer. The majority of people won’t be able to tell the difference.
This puts all kinds of NFT and Metaverse projects under question. Their authenticity will be questioned. Now, this could also be a good thing as people will do more careful study and thoroughly understand the project before investing in it.
Correlatively, we could see people getting misguided information that would lead them to invest in something or try something they normally wouldn’t do.
The Blockchain Prevention Of Deepfake
How can blockchain save us from deepfake problems? Well, truth be told, there will always be fake videos and scams. However, by utilizing the power of DAOs, or Soulbound tokens (SBTs), we could check the credibility of the videos.
A video created by actual promoters could be turned into an NFT and sent or shared in that manner. It would be available on official platforms and reduce the impact of deepfake.
As SBTs work as permanent, non-transferable assets, we could come up with something similar, a signature of authenticity for the video in the new world.
Blockchain could help us identify the authentic and genuine things on the internet from the fake ones. Almost like the QR Code scanners or a hologram that proves quality and credibility.
The Bottom Line
Deepfake is a severe concern, and there needs to be lawful decisions taken against them. Women have suffered a lot with fake nudes and many other video and image manipulation techniques. Now, the NFT world is also targeted.
In the future, we could see deepfake being used to play on any other hyped or popular project and manipulate people. There needs to be a solution, and there also needs to be consequences for the bad elements of the digital society.
Currently, it is impossible to trace the originator or creator of the deepfake samples. Ergo, it is becoming increasingly crucial for the world to implement blockchain technology to reinforce the security and authenticity aspect of the company.
