These deepfake videos of Tom Cruise look so realistic that people would not know they’re computer-generated. Where could you find these videos, you ask? Well, you can watch them on TikTok! The videos, which can be found under the handle @deeptomcruise, were just made from sample footages of the actor and technology:
In a series of tweets, Rachel Tobac, the CEO of SocialProof Security, warns that deepfakes like @deeptomcruise threaten to further erode public trust in a world where media literacy is poor and people already can't agree on what's true or false. Like the black and gold dress, where one person might notice giveaways that the Tom Cruise videos are synthesized, another might not know the signs of a fake and swear up and down that they're real.
"Just because you feel you can personally tell the difference between synthetic & authentic media, it doesn’t mean we’re good to go," she says. "It matters what the general public believes."
Deepfakes are especially dangerous because video is widely considered indisputable evidence. A prominent individual could be deepfaked into performing a hate crime, or a person who legitimately committed an unjust act could use deepfakes to craft an alibi.
image via Wikimedia Commons