The 'deep fake' scare is more dangerous than AI-tech behind it

Recognizing them is increasingly hard if not impossible to the untrained human eye. Overall, as most journalistic coverage of the topic tells us, deepfakes -- alongside other AI technologies, machine learning, and online neural networks in general -- are here and will serve to cast a shadow of technological terror over society. As part of media coverage on this topic, our future is deemed dystopian -- humankind has lost the battles to machines and episodes of the TV series "Black Mirror" will pale in comparison with the havoc sowed by technology. In fact, research I conducted with a colleague from the University of Haifa (Yael Oppenheim) has found that most images and narratives that journalists worldwide use to cover these technologies tend to stress destruction, loss, crisis, and fear regarding the future of humanity. From Israel to the U.S., deepfake videos are becoming a major threat to democracy'Every woman on Instagram is exposed': New AI creates nude photos of clothed women It is, however, important to contextualize this alarmist media frenzy.