Hybrid Reality: The Rise of Deepfakes and Diverging Truths

Abstract

While the manipulation of media has existed as long as their creation, recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have expedited the range of tampering techniques. Pictures, sound and moving images can now be altered and even generated entirely by computation. We argue that this development contributes to a “hybrid reality”, a construct of both human perception and technologically driven fabrications. In using synthetic media involving deep learning, called deepfakes, as one manifestation,we show how this technological progress leads to a distorted marketplace of ideas and truths that necessitates a renegotiation of democratic processes. We synthesize implications and conclude with recommendations for how to reach a new consensus on the construction of reality.