Artificial intelligence is an important next step for humanity--- Google CEO Sundar Pichai calls it more profound than electricity or fire---but like every technological leap, it comes with downsides, and not all of them related to Skynet-style robot revolutions.
You might have heard about AI and machine learning techniques being used to create fake celebrity porn recently. It was initially reported by Motherboard last month, who noted that a Redditor called deepfakes was using open-source libraries to replace the faces of actresses in hardcore porn videos with those of famous Hollywood stars.
The faces of Scarlett Johansson, Maisie Williams, Taylor Swift, Aubrey Plaza, and Gal Gadot were all inserted into the adult movies, and while there is a slight uncanny valley effect, the final product can be convincing.
The videos led to the appearance of a new app, called FakeApp, which is based on deepfakes' software. Not only does it improve on the original but it also allows anyone to create the fake videos, thanks to its ease of use and extensive tutorial.
Many of these videos and instructions on how to create them were being shared in a user group, also called deepfakes, on the gaming-focused chat service Discord. But after it was contacted by Business Insider, the company closed it down. Discord said the group, which had at least 150 members, violated rules on non-consensual pornography, which "warrants an instant shut down on the servers whenever we identify it, as well as a permanent ban on the users."
"We have investigated these servers and shut them down immediately," a Discord representative told the publication.
Reddit groups where the edited videos are being shared and discussed are still up. In one post, a user talks about technology that could allow creators to add custom dialogue to the clips using the Hollywood stars' own voices.