Opinion The dangers posed by AI-driven 'deepfakes'

Academics and researchers typically accuse the media of scaremongering and painting dystopian scenarios, especially when it comes to the coverage of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered algorithms. They do have a point, especially as machine learning and deep learning algorithms are exactly what power most of the software and smart devices that we use in our daily lives, be they smartphones, cameras, Internet of Things (IoT) devices or voice assistants. Smartphone penetration and advances in image recognition, for instance, are turning phones into powerful at-home diagnostic tools, while these cutting-edge algorithms are helping doctors, researchers and technology companies revolutionize healthcare. Besides, AI in conjunction with IoT (sensors and wearables), robotics, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) is playing a very important role. Further, researchers use AI systems to help radiologists improve their ability to diagnose and track prostate cancer. Nvidia researchers have generated synthetic brain MRI images for AI research with the aim of helping doctors learn more about rare brain tumours.