We’re underestimating the mind-warping potential of fake video

Seeing is believing. And because of this fact, we’re screwed.

Due to advances in artificial intelligence, it’s now possible to convincingly map anyone’s face onto the body of another person in a video. As Vox’s Aja Romano has explained, this technique is becoming more common in pornography: An actress’s head can be mapped onto a porn actress’s body. These “deepfakes” can be generated with free software, and they’re different from the photoshopping of the past. This is live action — and uncannily real.

—

“The potential for abuse is so severe,” says Elizabeth Loftus at the University of California Irvine, who pioneered much of the research in false memory formation in the 1990s. “Once you expose people to such a powerful visual presentation, how do they get it out of their minds?”

Read the whole story (subscription may be required): Vox