Though clumsy, the use of deepfakes in the recently discovered pro-China disinformation campaign opens a new chapter in information warfare. Another video using similar AI technology has been discovered online in recent weeks, showing fictional people calling themselves Americans and campaigning for support for the government of Burkina Faso, which is being investigated for links to Russia.
AI software that can be easily purchased online can “create videos in minutes, and subscriptions start at just a few dollars a month,” Mr. Stubbs said. “It makes it easier to produce content at scale.”
Graphika linked the two fake Wolf News anchors to technology from a British AI company called Synthesia, which is based above a clothing store in London’s Oxford Circus.
The five-year-old start-up makes software for creating deepfake avatars. All a customer has to do is enter a script, which is then read by one of the digital actors created with Synthesia’s tools.
AI avatars are “digital twins,” Synthesia said, based on the looks of hired actors and can be manipulated to speak in 120 languages and accents. It offers more than 85 characters to choose from with different genders, ages, ethnicities, voice tones and fashion choices.
An AI character named George looks like a senior businessman with gray hair and wears a blue blazer and collared shirt. Another, Helia, wears a hijab. Carlo, another avatar, has a hard hat. Samuel wears a white lab coat like doctors wear. (Customers can also use Synthesia to create their own avatars based on themselves or others who have given them permission.)
The company’s software is used by clients primarily for personal and training videos where unpolished production quality is sufficient. The software, which costs just $30 a month, produces videos in minutes that could otherwise take several days, requiring the hiring of a video production team and human actors.
The whole process is “as easy as writing an email,” Synthesia said on its website.
How a character typically appears
Here are examples of an AI generated character from Synthesia used for a variety of marketing and related campaigns.
