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Channel 4 has generated controversy and debate with a deepfake video of the Queen as an alternative to its traditional holiday broadcast, which will air on Christmas Day.
The broadcaster will show a five-minute video in which a digitally altered version of the Queen shares her reflections on the year, including Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s departure as royalty and the Duke of York’s involvement with him. financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The deepfake queen, voiced by actress Debra Stephenson, can also be seen performing a dance routine from the social media platform TikTok.
Channel 4 said the broadcast was intended to give a “stern warning” about the threat of fake news in the digital age, and its program director, Ian Katz, described the video as “a powerful reminder that we can no longer trust our own eyes. “
Some experts suggested that streaming might make the public think that deepfake technology was used more often than it is.
“We have not yet seen widespread use of deepfakes, except to target women,” said Sam Gregory, director of programs for Witness, an organization that uses video and technology to protect human rights. “We have to be very careful about making people think that they can’t believe what they see. If you haven’t seen them before, this could lead you to believe that deep fakes are a more widespread problem than they are, ”he said.
“It’s okay to expose people to deepfakes, but we shouldn’t step up the rhetoric to claim that we’re surrounded by them.”
Areeq Chowdhury, a technology policy researcher behind the Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson deepfakes during the 2019 general election, said he supported the decision to highlight the impact of deepfakes but that the technology did not pose a widespread threat to the exchange. of information.
“The risk is that it becomes easier and easier to use deepfakes, and there is the obvious challenge of having false information, but also the threat that they will undermine genuine video footage that could be dismissed as deepfakes,” he said.
“My view is that, in general, we should be concerned about this technology, but that the main problem with deepfakes today is their use in non-consensual deepfake pornography, rather than information.”
Deepfake expert Henry Ajder said: “I think in this case the video is not realistic enough to be a concern, but add disclaimers before a deepfake video is displayed, or add a watermark so that can’t be cropped and edited, you can help deliver them responsibly.
“As a society, we need to find out what uses for deepfakes we consider acceptable and how we can navigate a future where synthetic media is an increasingly important part of our lives. Channel 4 should promote best practices. “
