Deepfake queen to deliver Channel 4 Christmas message
Published1
day ago
Deepfake Queen looks very like the real one
This year's
Channel 4 alternative Christmas message will be delivered by a deepfake of the
Queen.
While the
Queen is delivering her traditional message on the BBC and ITV, her digitally
created doppelgänger will be sharing its "thoughts" on Channel 4.
Buckingham
Palace told the BBC it had no comment on the broadcast.
Channel 4
said the intention was to give a "stark warning" about fake news in
the digital age.
Deepfake
technology can be used to create convincing yet entirely fictional video
content, and is often used to spread misinformation.
In the
message, the deepfake will try its hand at a TikTok viral dance challenge.
'Countless
imitations'
The
five-minute message will refer to a number of controversial topics, including
the decision by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to leave the UK. It will also
allude to the Duke of York's decision to step down from royal duties earlier
this year after an interview he gave to the BBC about his relationship with sex
offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The BBC's
royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell was not impressed: "There have been
countless imitations of the Queen. This isn't a particularly good one.
"The
voice sounds what it is - a rather poor attempt to impersonate her. What makes
it troubling is the use of video technology to attempt to sync her lips to the
words being spoken."
Channel 4 says its deepfake video of the Queen is
meant to act as a warning
Some
members of the public have also suggested the video is
"disrespectful" via posts on social media.
The media
watchdog Ofcom said it had received "a small number of complaints",
but because it is a post-transmission regulator could not consider them at this
time.
While
current technology does allow for voice deepfakes, the voice of this deepfake
will be dubbed by British actress Debra Stephenson.
The TV star
was previously the voice of a puppet of the monarch in the 2020 revival of
satirical sketch show Spitting Image.
Stephenson
said: "As an actress it is thrilling but it is also terrifying if you
consider how this could be used in other contexts."
The
deepfake has been created by Oscar-winning VFX studio Framestore.
Deepfake
detection
Deepfakes
first rose to prominence in early 2018.
At the
time, a developer adapted cutting-edge artificial intelligence techniques to
create software that swapped one person's face for another.
However,
the process has since become much more accessible.
There are
now numerous apps that require just a single photo in order to substitute a
Hollywood actor for that of the user.
Earlier
this year, Microsoft unveiled a tool that can spot deepfakes.
The firm
said it hoped to help combat disinformation, but experts warned it was at risk
of becoming outdated due to advances in technology.
Nina
Schick, author of Deep Fakes and the Infocalypse, told the BBC there was
growing concern about the other malicious ways deepfake technology could be
used.
"While
it offers tremendous commercial and creative opportunities, transforming entire
industries from entertainment to communication, it is also a technology that
will be weaponised.
"Used
maliciously, AI-generated synthetic media, or deepfakes, are sophisticated
forms of visual disinformation."
The
Alternative Christmas Message will be shown on Channel 4 at 15:25 GMT on 25
December.
Channel 4 under fire for deepfake Queen's Christmas
message
Broadcaster says video, showing digitally altered
monarch reflecting on Prince Harry, intended as warning about fake news
Molly
Blackall
Thu 24 Dec
2020 15.58 GMT
Channel 4
has sparked controversy and debate with a deepfake video of the Queen as an
alternative to her traditional festive broadcast, to be aired on Christmas Day.
The
broadcaster will show a five-minute video in which a digitally altered version
of the Queen shares her reflections on the year, including the departure of
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle as senior royals and the Duke of York’s
involvement with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The
deepfake Queen, voiced by the actor Debra Stephenson, can also be seen
performing a dance routine from social media platform TikTok.
Channel 4
said the broadcast was intended to give a “stark warning” about the threat of
fake news in the digital era, with its director of programmes, Ian Katz,
describing the video as a “a powerful reminder that we can no longer trust our
own eyes”.
Some
experts suggested the broadcast might make the public think deepfake technology
was more commonly used than is the case.
“We haven’t
seen deepfakes used widely yet, except to attack women,” said Sam Gregory, the
programme director of Witness, an organisation using video and technology to
protect human rights. “We should be really careful about making people think
that they can’t believe what they see. If you’ve not seen them before, this
could make you believe that deep fakes are a more widespread problem than they
are,” he said.
“It’s fine
to expose people to deepfakes, but we shouldn’t be escalating the rhetoric to
claim we’re surrounded by them.”
Areeq
Chowdhury, a technology policy researcher behind deepfakes of Jeremy Corbyn and
Boris Johnson during the 2019 general election, said he supported the decision
to highlight the impact of deepfakes but that the technology did not pose a
widespread threat to information sharing.
“The risk
is that it becomes easier and easier to use deepfakes, and there is the obvious
challenge of having fake information out there, but also the threat that they
undermine genuine video footage which could be dismissed as a deepfakes,” he
said.
“My view is
that we should generally be concerned about this tech, but that the main
problem with deepfakes today is their use in non-consensual deepfake
pornography, rather than information.”
Deepfakes
expert Henry Ajder said: “I think in this case the video is not sufficiently
realistic to be a concern, but adding disclaimers before a deepfake video is
shown, or adding a watermark so it can’t be cropped and edited, can help to
deliver them responsibly.
“As a
society, we need to figure out what uses for deepfakes we deem acceptable, and
how we can navigate a future where synthetic media is an increasingly big part
of our lives. Channel 4 should be encouraging best practice.”
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