'Deepfake challenge' aims to find tools to fight manipulation

Technology firms and academics have joined together to launch a "deepfake challenge" to improve tools to detect videos and other media manipulated by artificial intelligence. The initiative announced Thursday includes $10 million from Facebook and aims to curb what is seen as a major threat to the integrity of online information. The effort is being supported by Microsoft and the industry-backed Partnership on AI and includes academics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell University, University of Oxford, University of California-Berkeley, University of Maryland and University at Albany. It represents a broad effort to combat the dissemination of manipulated video or audio as part of a misinformation campaign. "The goal of the challenge is to produce technology that everyone can use to better detect when AI has been used to alter a video in order to mislead the viewer," said Facebook chief technical officer Mike Schroepfer.