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A manipulated video of President Nixon’s Apollo 11 speech to the nation has been posted online to highlight the dangers of misinformation by the media.
The deepfake video uses deep learning technology and artificial intelligence to create manipulated images depicting Nixon falsely announcing that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were stranded on the moon during the 1969 landing.
“Destiny has ordered that men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace,” says a voice actor posing as President Nixon in the manipulated video.
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“In ancient times, men looked at the stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do almost the same thing, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood, ”he continues.
“Others will follow and will surely find their way home. The search for man will not be denied. But these men were the first, and will continue to be the first in our hearts. “
The seven-minute documentary, produced by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Advanced Virtuality, is titled “In the Event of a Moon Disaster” and brings to life the speech written by William Safire as a contingency in case the landing goes wrong.
Actually Armstrong and Aldrin safely landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, and then safely returned to Earth alongside their teammate Michael Collins, meaning the speech was never used.
“This alternative story shows how new technologies can obfuscate the truth around us, encouraging our audience to think carefully about the media they encounter on a daily basis,” project co-leader Francesca Panetta, creative director of XR at MIT Virtuality. .
The documentary has been selected by various film festivals since its debut in 2019 as an art installation in a living room from the 1960s.
The new website allows anyone to view the video and provides resources on deep counterfeits and the dangers they pose.
“We hope that this project encourages the public to understand that manipulated media plays an important role in our media landscape, and that with greater understanding and diligence we can all reduce the likelihood of being unduly influenced by it,” said the co-director. Halsey Burgund, a member of the MIT Open Documentary Lab, also told the website in a statement.
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