“Swap any face into the video” the text on a video that showed Emma Watson’s face on a girl in a white dress, who was taking positions of going down on someone appeared. This video was an ad for a Deepfake video app that had 200-300 variations and was pushed to millions of people across Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram. The problematic app that promised to create Deepfake porn videos using anyone’s face with just some images has since been removed from both Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. But it has left the internet fuming about what AI and Deepfakes can do to ruin millions of lives. What is ‘Deepfake Video?’ Know Everything About the Face Swap AI Technology, Will Fake News be Uncontrollable?

The challenged and serious consent issues of AI have been heavily discussed for some time now. But when popular actress Emma Watson’s face appeared in a bunch of ads for a company, she was clearly not associated with, the imaginary scenarios suddenly had a very real face. Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, responded to millions of people’s comments on social media by highlighting that the ads were all swiftly removed. But the ads showed manufactured images of Emma Watson initiating sexual acts and highlighted how the app could help people to create similar videos using images of anyone in just a few seconds.

While Deepfakes have previously been used to create eerily real-looking videos of politicians that will leave you confused, this new era of Deepfake porn has been a key troubling issue for many, especially women. Just a few weeks back, a popular Twitch streamer was caught paying a website to create Deepfake porn videos using pictures of his friends and fellow female Twitch streamers. These ads, which were marketed to anyone and everyone above the age of 12, because of the sexual innuendos of the ad, have raised concerns on how mainstream and easy it can be to create such videos that often leave long-standing trauma.

The video ad was captioned - Enjoy yourself with AI swap face technology, and was highlighted by independent journalist Lauren Barton. This has since initiated a much-needed serious conversation around the emergence, popularity and accessibility of Deepfake and what it means for the world. Even as swift actions have been taken to curb this app and people’s access to it, the possibility of similar apps rising in the future is a reality that we need to grapple with and find solutions to. And while many are urging people (especially women ) to tread with caution when it comes to sharing pictures and videos of oneself with the world online, policing potential victims is never the solution to this grave issue and legal ramifications as well as guidelines need to be developed for this.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 09, 2023 06:50 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).