From NBC Bay Area
AI deepfakes are costing billions in fraud. Can you detect one? Take our quiz
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Do you think you can tell the difference between a real person and an AI-generated clone? New research finds you probably can’t.
Artificial intelligence isn’t just blurring the lines between what’s real and fake, in some cases it has completely erased them, taking with it billions of dollars from unsuspecting consumers and businesses that have fallen victim to AI-related fraud...
In comparison to audio, video inherently has a lot more elements to scrutinize. Sudden distortions, awkward facial expressions, and even misplaced body parts are frequent giveaways the images you are seeing were created with AI. In addition, most AI-generated videos are viewed on social media, so skeptical users can replay clips that seem a little off or scroll through the comments to see if others have pegged the video as fake.
“You are getting a huge amount of information that can be used to say, ‘Hmmm, is this real or has this been tampered with?” said Sarah Barrington, a researcher at the UC Berkeley School of Information who specializes in detecting deepfakes. “And that's not the case for audio.”
Simply picking up a phone call, according to Barrington, could leave you vulnerable. She says the increasing risk for fraud and misinformation is why she and her colleagues have focused their research on AI-generated audio. In order to search for solutions, she argues, we first need to understand just how easily people can fall prey to AI clones.
To find out how well adults and teenagers can distinguish real voices from AI copycats, Barrington and her fellow researchers at Berkeley put more than 600 people to the test. Those surveyed listened to pairs of audio clips, back-to-back, and had to determine whether they were recorded by the same person or if one was an AI clone created by Berkeley researchers using a website anyone can access for just $5...
Sarah Barrington is a Ph.D. student and MIMS alumna at the UC Berkeley School of Information.
