Metaphysic, the company behind the Tom Cruise deepfakes, has raised $7.5 million. The London-based company develops artificial intelligence for hyperreal virtual experiences in the metaverse, the universe of virtual worlds that are all interconnected, like in novels such as Snow Crash and Ready Player One. The company raised the money from Section 32, 8VC, TO Ventures, Winklevoss Capital and Logan Paul. The funding will help expand Metaphysic's work on synthetic content creation tools for emergent metaverse worlds that are being built by Facebook and other networks. In addition to developing technology to scale hyperreal experiences in the metaverse, Metaphysic is aiming its synthetic media to connect influencers and their audiences in novel ways -- including via deepfake videos -- that are hyperrealistic, ethically created and uniquely compelling.

When several life-like Tom Cruise deepfakes went viral on TikTok, many saw the future of truth through a glass, darkly -- out of concern for a world where acquiring deepfakes of major celebrities or political figures would become a "one-click" feature of daily life. Like it or not, we live in a world where anyone can interact with deepfake technology. But curating high-end specialized AI drivers -- whether for mischief or raising awareness -- is harder than it looks. The creator of the video -- a Belgium VFX specialist named Chris Ume -- thinks this is unlikely, emphasizing the impractically long timespans and substantial effort required to build every deepfake, in addition to finding an ace Tom Cruise impersonator (Miles Fisher). "You can't do it by just pressing a button," said Ume in a report from The Verge.

After creating a convincing viral series of Tom Cruise deepfakes on TikTok, VFX specialist Chris Ume told The Verge, "You can't do it by just pressing a button. That's important, that's a message I want to tell people." He went on to say that each clip took weeks of work using the open-source DeepFaceLab algorithm as well as established video editing tools. The key takeaway, and the title of the article, was Tom Cruise deepfake creator says public shouldn't be worried about'one-click fakes'. You should be extremely worried about deepfakes, the technology that empowers their creation, and the exponential speed of innovation.

Tom Cruise has gone viral on the popular video-sharing app TikTok, but the clips featuring the'Mission Impossible' star are deepfakes that experts are calling the'most alarmingly lifelike examples' of the technology. An account appeared on the app last week, dubbed'deeptomcruise,' which shows a number of videos depicting Cruise doing a magic trick, playing golf and reminiscing about the time he met the former President of the Soviet Union. The series of clips have been seen more than 11 million times on TikTok as of Tuesday, with many millions more on other social media platforms. Although the clips are for entertainment, experts warn that such content'should worry us'. 'Seeing is no longer believing' rhetoric undermines real video.' An account appeared on the app last week, dubbed'deeptomcruise,' which shows a number of videos that have been viewed more than 11 million times.