On Tuesday, Microsoft has shown us glimpses of two new computer programs that hold the potential to fight against deepfakes in their own unique way. The new apps are regarded highly because of their ability to identify manipulated videos (which was previously a hard thing to do) and can even inform people about whether the media they are watching is actually real or not.
Microsoft has said that its new technology will be built as a part of its Azure service technology for businesses and as a result content makers will have the hold to send “hash” fingerprints of their videos to Microsoft which will then eventually make it easier for people to know if the media is manipulated.
The challenge of misinformation was better explained by Tom Burt, corporate vice president of customer security and trust, and Eric Horvitz, chief scientific officer, in the similar blog post that was made to announce the programs as according to them since disinformation comes in many forms so there won’t be any single technology to combat this hurdle and help people in knowing the truth.
Microsoft has also created an online game that challenges people to catch deepfakes and if you are interested to see their attempt then you should visit deepfakes.org.
This effort by Microsoft adds up as the latest among tech companies that are genuinely worried about the issue of deepfakes. If you haven’t experienced a deepfake voice, then such technology takes place in videos and audios recordings in which computers then manipulate the voice of the user to say anything that the bad guys want to and as a result the deepfake then becomes harder to spot or identified. This trick can showcase its true brilliance in case of political speeches and ahead of 2020 US elections.
Prior to this technology, a more realistic proof of deepfakes was also given by The Massachusetts Institute of Technology that raised their concern with a video and audio of President Richard Nixon speech which he never actually delivered in reality. MIT's Center for Advanced Virtuality went on to explain that by creating an alternative history, the project actually showed glimpses of the influence that misinformation coming with deepfake technology can hold in a contemporary society.
In response to that, Microsoft did come out with its own Defending Democracy Program and an app known as ElectionGuard which was based on quickly identifying hacking attempts.
However, the new deepfakes program might just be able to do a bit more as it has been developed under Microsoft’s Research division and with the help of a responsible AI team, and its Ethics and Effects in Engineering and Research Committee.
Read next: Microsoft Edge 85 gives solid competition to Google Chrome with some brilliant new features
Microsoft has said that its new technology will be built as a part of its Azure service technology for businesses and as a result content makers will have the hold to send “hash” fingerprints of their videos to Microsoft which will then eventually make it easier for people to know if the media is manipulated.
The challenge of misinformation was better explained by Tom Burt, corporate vice president of customer security and trust, and Eric Horvitz, chief scientific officer, in the similar blog post that was made to announce the programs as according to them since disinformation comes in many forms so there won’t be any single technology to combat this hurdle and help people in knowing the truth.
Microsoft has also created an online game that challenges people to catch deepfakes and if you are interested to see their attempt then you should visit deepfakes.org.
This effort by Microsoft adds up as the latest among tech companies that are genuinely worried about the issue of deepfakes. If you haven’t experienced a deepfake voice, then such technology takes place in videos and audios recordings in which computers then manipulate the voice of the user to say anything that the bad guys want to and as a result the deepfake then becomes harder to spot or identified. This trick can showcase its true brilliance in case of political speeches and ahead of 2020 US elections.
Prior to this technology, a more realistic proof of deepfakes was also given by The Massachusetts Institute of Technology that raised their concern with a video and audio of President Richard Nixon speech which he never actually delivered in reality. MIT's Center for Advanced Virtuality went on to explain that by creating an alternative history, the project actually showed glimpses of the influence that misinformation coming with deepfake technology can hold in a contemporary society.
In response to that, Microsoft did come out with its own Defending Democracy Program and an app known as ElectionGuard which was based on quickly identifying hacking attempts.
However, the new deepfakes program might just be able to do a bit more as it has been developed under Microsoft’s Research division and with the help of a responsible AI team, and its Ethics and Effects in Engineering and Research Committee.
Read next: Microsoft Edge 85 gives solid competition to Google Chrome with some brilliant new features
