Celebrity deepfakes are proliferating on social networks. It's a growing scourge, and one against which YouTube – together with the help of a number of celebrities – has decided to help tackle with the launch of a new tool.
YouTube has announced a partnership with the leading entertainment and sports agency, Creative Artists Agency (CAA), to track down deepfakes. The video streaming platform has announced that a handful of celebrities will soon be testing a new technology "designed to identify and manage AI-generated content that features their likeness, including their face, on YouTube at scale," the platform explains in a blog post.
The idea is simple: to improve the tool by adapting its needs according to the feedback of participants, whose names have not yet been revealed. However, YouTube has said that participants will include sports personalities from the NBA and NFL, as well as award-winning actors and actresses. The test phase for this technology will begin in early 2025.
With this tool, the platform aims not only to find deepfakes more easily, but above all to facilitate their removal from the internet. "In addition to surfacing AI-generated content that depicts their likeness, this tool will provide easy access to submit requests for removal through our privacy complaint process," the streaming site explains.
And this is just the beginning. The American giant has already announced a number of new products that will be unveiled over the coming year. "Importantly, this is the first step of a larger testing effort. Over the next few months, we’ll announce new testing cohorts of top YouTube creators, creative professionals, and other leading partners representing talent."
With the rise of artificial intelligence, many entertainment professionals have highlighted the pitfalls of such technology, which can easily replace actors. For example, a deepfake of the actor Tom Cruise caused confusion on TikTok in 2021.
Female artists have also fallen victim to pornographic deepfakes, such as Taylor Swift and members of K-pop groups. – AFP Relaxnews
