The Dangers of Deepfakes and Disinformation

Guests Dr. Hany Farid and Ted Schlein join host Col. Dave Brown and co-host Dr. Tim Schultz to discuss deepfake technology and the challenge of the proliferation of fake news and disinformation. One of Aesop’s fables was titled Prometheus and Dolus, or sometimes alternatively titled, On Truth and Falsehood. In the fable, Prometheus can bring to life the figures he creates, and so he makes a sculpture of Truth (Veritas). When he is called away by Zeus, he leaves his workshop in the hands of his apprentice Dolus (the Greek God of Deception). While he is gone, Dolus fashions a replica of Prometheus's Truth, but runs out of clay, so his statue has no feet. When Prometheus returns, he marvels at the flawless likeness and fires both sculptures in the oven. When both figures come to life, Prometheus' Veritas (Truth) walks gracefully forward, while Dolus’ figure remains still - unable to walk. Ever after, Dolus' figure was called Mendacity (Falsehood). This is a fitting description of our topic which concerns the ever-growing area of deepfake digital media, its potential for tremendous negative consequences for domestic and international cybersecurity, its larger potential for societal disruption, and recommendations for how best to address it.

Articles:

• California Enacts New Laws to Combat AI-Generated Deceptive Election Content, S. Levi, T. Rosen et al, Skadden, 27 Sep 2024
• California Passes Election ‘Deepfake’ Laws, Forcing Social Media Companies to Take Action, NYT, 17 Sep 2024
• Deepfakes Are Evolving. This Company Wants to Catch Them All, W. Knight, Wired, 27 Jun 2024
• Hany Farid: Creating, Weaponizing, and Detecting Deep Fakes, UCSB Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, 3 May 2023 (video)
• A Forensics Expert on Princess Kate’s Photo—and How Credentialing Tools Can Help Build Trust in a World of Increasing Uncertainty, H. Farid, TIME, 12 Mar 2024
• AI is destabilizing ‘the concept of truth itself’ in 2024 election, P. Verma & G. De Vynck, Washington Post, 22 Jan 2024
• Hany Farid: To limit disinformation, we must regulate internet platforms, E. Lempinen, UC Berkeley News, 21 Nov, 2023
• Podcast: Hany Farid on deep fakes, doctored photos, and disinformation, H. Farid, Q. Jurecic & E. Douek, Brookings, 24 Jul 2020 (Podcast)
• Creating,Using, Misusing, and Detecting Deep Fakes, Farid, H. (2022). Creating, Using, Misusing, and Detecting Deep Fakes. Journal of Online Trust and Safety, 1(4). https://doi.org/10.54501/jots.v1i4.56
• CV: https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/110075/witnesses/HHRG-116-IF16-Bio-FaridH-20191016.pdf
• Ted Schlein’s 2-year-old Ballistic Ventures has already raised a second $360 million fund, J. Bort, TechCrunch, 14 Mar 2024
• Cybersecurity investor Ted Schlein: ‘I think the whole landscape needs to be completely rethought’, A. Janofsky, The Record, 22 Apr 2021
• Could AI and Deepfakes Sway the US Election?, L. Feiger, WIRED, 6 Sep 2024
• The Trouble With Deepfakes: Liar's Dividend, FT Tech Tonic, 22 Aug 2024

Guests:

Timothy Schultz, Ph.D., Col., U.S. Air Force (Retired) - Co-Host

Associate Dean of Academics at the U.S. Naval War College. Dr. Schultz is a retired Air Force colonel and former U-2 pilot, and previously served as dean of the U.S. Air Force's School of Advanced Air and Space Studies. Tim's research interests include the transformative role of automation in warfare and the impact of technological change on institutions, society and military strategy. He authored "The Problem with Pilots: How Physicians, Engineers, and Airpower Enthusiasts Redefined Flight" and co-edited "Air Power in the Age of Primacy: Air Warfare since the Cold War."

Hany Farid, Ph.D.

Chief Science Officer at GetReal Labs specializing in image analysis, digital forensics, and the intersection of technology and society particularly as it pertains to online harms. Dr. Farid is also a professor at the University of California, Berkeley with a joint appointment in electrical engineering & computer sciences and the School of Information. He is a member of the Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Lab, Berkeley Institute for Data Science, Center for Innovation in Vision and Optics, Development Engineering, Vision Science Program, and is a senior faculty advisor for the Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity. His research focuses on digital forensics where he develops computational and mathematical techniques to authenticate digital media and debunk deepfakes.

Ted Schlein

Chairman Ballistic Ventures, & general partner for 25 years at Kleiner Perkins. Ted’s career in venture capital spans more than 30 years in the field of cybersecurity, and his roles as operator, founder, investor and advisor have resulted in the creation of companies that have fundamentally shaped the cybersecurity landscape. Ted also provides counsel to the U.S. intelligence community, serves on the Board of Trustees at InQTel, and he is a board member of the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency’s Advisory Committee. Ballistic Ventures is the embodiment of Ted’s vision for how venture capital can play a crucial role in the continual fight for a free and secure digital future.