8 votes

MIT researchers created a deepfake of Nixon delivering the 'In Event Of Moon Disaster' speech

Posted by asteroid
Tags: deepfakes, video, richard nixon, misinformation, usa, presidents, digital manipulation, speeches, dystopian, source.mit
http://news.mit.edu/2020/mit-tackles-misinformation-in-event-of-moon-disaster-0720

Link information

This data is scraped automatically and may be incorrect.

Title
Tackling the misinformation epidemic with "In Event of Moon Disaster"
Word count
745 words

4 comments

  1. knocklessmonster
    Link
    Not that the technology isn't impressive, but this, specifically, is all hype. Nixon is twitchy, and his voice is sloppily done. The presentation is borderline offensive. The site asks "Can you...

    Not that the technology isn't impressive, but this, specifically, is all hype. Nixon is twitchy, and his voice is sloppily done. The presentation is borderline offensive. The site asks "Can you spot a deepfake?" and if click "Yes," it says "Okay hotshot, let's see!" It then presents you with a poorly constructed narrative, ending with a twitchy robot-voiced Nixon. Here's Nixon talking about Apollo 13 for comparison.

    The audio has been done better by different organizations, and on the whole it can be done, but this Nixon speech is not even one of the best examples.

    Combining methods, of course, you could probably do a from-scratch solid deepfake, but you wouldn't need to given time, resources, and an actor to map against for realistic movement.

    6 votes
  2. [2]
    jgb
    Link
    Well, it's not very convincing, haha. If this is the best MIT can do then I'm not too worried yet.

    Well, it's not very convincing, haha. If this is the best MIT can do then I'm not too worried yet.

    2 votes
    1. asteroid
      Link Parent
      Never pay attention to the first effort -- just that it happened. The earliest CD-ROMs were slow and awkward, requiring messy device drivers. But the data storage changed the world.

      Never pay attention to the first effort -- just that it happened.

      The earliest CD-ROMs were slow and awkward, requiring messy device drivers. But the data storage changed the world.

      4 votes
  3. annadane
    Link
    Of course, the hypothetical speeches (perhaps not this one specifically but in general) themselves were real. Nixon DID make several versions of the speech in case the astronauts perished

    Of course, the hypothetical speeches (perhaps not this one specifically but in general) themselves were real. Nixon DID make several versions of the speech in case the astronauts perished

    1 vote