Deepfakes are sometimes used to launch disinformation campaigns.
(Illustration) -
AP / SIPA
Greg Tarr, a 17-year-old high school student from Cork (Ireland), is the winner of the 2020 BT Young Scientist & Technology, a competition for young prodigies in the country.
He won this award by designing an artificial intelligence program that can detect "deepfakes", reports
The Irish Times
.
It is an absolute honor to win the BT Young Scientist & Technologist of the Year award for my project titled 'Towards Deepfake Detection'!
Thank you to everyone involved!
I'd like to give a special thanks to BT for holding this fantastic exhibition online despite COVID-19.
pic.twitter.com/HAyf0MWkE1
- Greg Tarr (@Greg_Tarr) January 8, 2021
Pornography and disinformation
As a reminder, deepfakes are videos tampered with by an AI allowing the face of a person to be placed on the body of another, in order for example to attribute words to him that he has never spoken.
Appeared a few years ago in the world of pornography, deepfakes have become more and more convincing and easy to perform.
While some use them for humorous purposes, others use them for disinformation campaigns.
94.3% pass
Aware of the terrible social impact of this type of video, the young Irishman sought to improve the tools to identify deepfakes.
The software he developed using machine learning techniques is said to be faster and much cheaper than those developed by specialist companies.
Greg Tarr's artificial intelligence was notably tested on a deepfake developed by the British channel Channel 4 in order to raise awareness about false information.
In it, Queen Elizabeth II appeared to deliver a speech before dancing on the table.
The Irishman's algorithm was able to spot the deception, at 94.3%.
Series
"More beautiful life": The deepfake to replace an actress suffering from Covid-19
High-Tech
Audio deepfake, the new trending scam developed by hackers
High-Tech
Porn
Ireland
Artificial intelligence
Fake news
Queen elizabeth ii