Deep Fake Service?

August 16, 2024

This essay is the work of a dumb dinobaby. No smart software required.

Dozens of these deep fake services exist. I found DeepLive quite interesting, and it may be one itself. Here’s the DeepLive version of George Clooney, son of Rosemary Clooney. Mrs. Clooney was one of Bing Crosby’s favorite singers on the Philco radio program. (You have to be a dinobaby to know this.)

What sets DeepLive apart is that one needs only a single image and the video of the person whose face you want to replace. The technology — assuming it is functioning as marketed — makes it clear that swapping faces on videos can be done. Will the technology derail often-controversial facial recognition systems?

The Web site provides testimonials and some examples of DeepLive in action.

The company says:

Deep Live Cam is an open-source tool for real-time face swapping and one-click video deepfakes. It can replace faces in videos or images using a single photo, ideal for video production, animation, and various creative projects.

The software is available as open source. The developers says that it includes “ethical safeguards.” But just in case these don’t work, DeepLive posts this message on its Web site:

Built-in checks prevent processing of inappropriate content, ensuring legal and ethical use.

The software has a couple of drawbacks:

It is not clear if this particular code base is on an open source repository. There are a number of Deep Live this and thats.
There is no active Web page link to the “Get Started” button
There is minimal information about the “owner” of the software.

Other than that DeepLive is a good example of a deep fake. (An interesting discussion appears in HackerNews and Ars Technica.) If the system is stable and speedy, AI-enabled tools to create content objects for a purpose has taken a step forward. Bad actors are probably going to take note and give the system a spin.

Stephen E Arnold, August 16, 2024

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Marketing, News

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.