The trouble with deepfakes: Liar’s dividend

The trouble with deepfakes: Liar’s dividend

Author: Financial Times August 22, 2024 Duration: 25:56

A new breed of AI generated fake pictures, videos and audio clips is spreading across the internet - content anyone with an internet connection can generate. And some of these deepfakes are now so convincing that even experts struggle to tell the difference between what’s real and what has been created using artificial intelligence. In a new series, Hannah Murphy, the FT’s tech reporter in San Francisco, examines the potential of deepfakes to cause chaos and asks how worried we should be and what’s being done to combat their proliferation. 


In the first of this two-part series she hears from Kimberly Ton Mai, AI researcher at University College, London; Hany Farid, digital forensics expert at the University of California, Berkeley; and Paul Carpenter, magician and hypnotist. 


Tell us what you think of Tech Tonic and you could be in with a chance to win a pair of Bose QuietComfort 35 wireless headphones. Complete the survey here.


Want more?


Audio deepfakes emerge as weapon of choice in election disinformation


The rising threat to democracy of AI-powered disinformation


The FT View: Deepfakes and disinformation


The danger of deepfakes is not what you think


Clips: Fox News, AP, @mentallyhyp TikTok, The Telegraph, The Guardian, France 24 English, Sky News


This series of Tech Tonic is presented by Hannah Murphy. The producer is Persis Love. The senior producer is Edwin Lane. Executive producer Manuela Saragosa. Additional production help from Josh Gabert-Doyon. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Original music by Metaphor Music. The FT’s head of audio is Cheryl Brumley.


Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.


From the Financial Times, FT Tech Tonic steps beyond the breathless headlines and gadget launches to explore how technology is fundamentally reshaping our lives, economies, and social structures. This isn't just a series about the latest app; it's a deep, considered examination of the forces driving the digital age and their often unintended consequences. Each episode grapples with the complex interplay between innovation and its real-world impact, drawing on the FT's global reporting expertise to provide clarity and context. You'll hear conversations that dissect the power dynamics in Silicon Valley, investigate the ethical dilemmas of artificial intelligence, and explore how entrepreneurship is being redefined across different cultures. The podcast digs into the substance behind the hype, asking whether emerging technologies truly deliver on their promise to improve society or if they introduce new perils we are only beginning to understand. By weaving together threads from technology, business, and culture, the discussions offer a nuanced perspective that challenges simplistic narratives. Tune in for thoughtful analysis that connects the dots between boardroom strategies, algorithmic biases, and the everyday experiences that define our increasingly connected world.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

FT Tech Tonic
Podcast Episodes
Untold: Toxic Legacy, Ep. 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:06
Laura Hughes receives a tip that horses are dropping dead in Wales. As she investigates, she finds decades of academic studies researching the problem. She learns these aren’t isolated incidents. Something is spreading a…
Defying death: The future of forever [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:14
Gene and stem cell therapies have been touted as the next phase in the longevity movement, with promises to rejuvenate the body at the cellular level and reverse the effects of ageing. But, as the prospect of life extens…
Defying death: The longevity lab [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:28
Singapore has become a model for longevity-focused healthcare. With an ageing population and citizens willing to spend money on anti-ageing treatments, the government and private companies are spending big on new ways to…
Defying death: The origins of ageing [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:49
How much do we really know about ageing? For decades, scientists have been trying to understand the biology of the ageing process - what happens to our bodies as we get older? And is it possible to slow that process down…
Coming soon: Defying death [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:30
Investors are spending billions of dollars on novel ways to extend human life through inventive treatments, therapies, and even manipulating our genes. And increasingly, it seems as though anti-ageing efforts have moved…
Introducing Untold: Toxic Legacy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:16
Introducing Toxic Legacy, a new season of Untold from the Financial Times. Host Laura Hughes uncovers a lead poisoning epidemic across the UK. You might be living with lead and not know it: the toxin is often invisible t…
Mission to Mars: Bad science fiction [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:17
For decades, science fiction writers have envisaged colonising Mars, even building cities on the red planet. Advocates for Mars exploration, such as Elon Musk, want to make that vision a reality. But can humans really li…
Mission to Mars: The new space race [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:53
US President Donald Trump wants to “plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars”. But more than 50 years on from the moon landings, America’s space agency, Nasa, is in disarray. Meanwhile, China is forging ahead with…
Mission to Mars: Elon Musk's 'Starship' enterprise [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:34
Elon Musk wants humans to settle on Mars, and his rocket company SpaceX is spending billions of dollars on developing the spacecraft to take us there. The ‘Starship’ is being designed to take astronauts back to the moon,…
Coming soon: Mission to Mars [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:40
US President Donald Trump has pledged to “plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars”, China could send its first crewed mission to Mars within a decade, and Elon Musk wants people to actually settle on Mars, transfo…