On the August 26th episode of “Particles of Thought,” a brand new podcast series affiliated with the popular PBS documentary series Nova, astrophysicist Hakeem Olusey invited Professor Hany Farid as a featured guest. The episode, titled “The Deepfake Detective,” highlighted how deepfakes are made, some key concerns, the current state of deepfake detection methods, and the future of AI.
In the beginning of the podcast, Prof. Farid discussed the shortening transition period between the computers, mobile phones, and AI revolutions. In the beginning, it took over half a century for computers to be in most homes; mobile phones took less than a decade. Now, AI has taken hold in just two to three years and has the possibility of eliminating about 50% of white-collar jobs in the next five years, says Farid. This statistic highlights the sobering reality of the state of AI, and how it has seemingly begun tearing society apart by the seams.
“We don’t even know what’s real anymore because we consume all of our content from online sources,” Farid added. “Online sources have been polluted for a while thanks to AI. Suddenly, our whole notion of reality is up in the air…because I can create whatever reality I want.”
Farid then explained his work at GetReal Security, deepfake detection techniques, and his mission to build technology to assist in the process. “A lot of what we do is look for patterns you expect to see that mimic the physical world. It is really hard to do this, and it’s constantly changing. You have to have humility that this is a complicated world; it is fast-moving and you have a responsibility to get reliable information.”
By the end of the episode, Farid stated that the growth of AI has been compounded by Silicon Valley and recommended that the government begin thinking about passing stringent regulation and guardrails.
“We should not be unleashing AI systems without understanding them better than we do right now,” he concluded.
