I spotted my first deep fake at a family reunion in Ohio

My cousin showed me a video of our uncle saying he was selling the family farm. Something felt off about the way his mouth moved, so I paused it and looked at the shadows under his chin. The lighting didn't match the sun position in the background, and the audio had a weird hollow echo. I pointed it out to everyone and we realized it was a fake meant to stir up drama. Has anyone else caught a deep fake in a personal setting like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

kai_burns7316d ago

Are you sure it was a deep fake though? I mean, people mess around with video editing all the time for pranks, and family drama can make us see things that aren't there. Shadows and lighting can be tricky with phone cameras, especially at outdoor gatherings where the sun moves around. That hollow echo could just be bad audio recording with a cheap microphone. Maybe your cousin was trying to stir up drama, but it might have been a simple joke that went too far, not some high tech deep fake. Sometimes we overthink things and blame technology when plain old human mischief is the real answer.

abby_morgan1815d ago

But honestly, I'm not buying the simple prank explanation here. The way the eyes blinked at slightly different times and the skin texture shifted in that one frame, that's way beyond what your average cousin with iMovie could pull off. Even cheap phone cameras don't produce that specific kind of uncanny valley effect unless someone's really gone out of their way with AI tools.

quinnm7715d ago

abby that uncanny valley thing you mentioned is spot on. that specific mismatched blink in her eye movements is the kind of detail that takes real effort to fake, not just a quick edit for fun. the skin texture shifting sealed it for me too, casual editing rarely hits that level of weirdness.