Mona Lisa And Nancy Pelosi: The Implications Of Deepfakes

The altered video of Nancy Pelosi giving a speech at the Center for American Progress on May 22, which had been slowed down and pitch-shifted to make her seem drunk, catalyzed the return of the debate on deepfakes. Thanks to the voracious nature of social media, the altered video (technically not a deepfake as some claimed) was shared far and wide with many commenting on her apparent inebriation. "She always looks like she's a non-functioning alcoholic," one contributor to a Fox and Friends broadcast said on May 24, and the Former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani retweeted the video questioning Pelosi's "bizarre speech pattern." This seems like intentional use of doctored media for political purposes, a clear potential use of deepfake material--in Pelosi's speech she said President Trump's refusal to cooperate with congressional investigations amounted to a "cover-up"--and Donald Trump, Barack Obama, and Vladimir Putin have all been prominent targets of this technology before.