We are all far more aware
of the misinformation
out there on social media
in a variety of platforms.
But tonight, a new way
to spread falsehoods.
A research firm has identified realistic
appearing newscasts
featuring age
generated newscasters
who are disparaging the United States.
They're called deepfakes.
And interestingly,
the content of what you're saying
is distinctly aligned
with Chinese messaging.
CNN's Selina Wang has more
Hello, everyone.
This is Wolf News.
I'm Alex.
On first glance,
these look like news anchors
and the top leaders of China.
On second glance,
you might notice something uncanny.
The two heads of state
and how their voices don't align
with their mouth movements.
That's because they aren't real people.
They're deep, fake
avatars made
with artificial intelligence.
It's unclear who's behind this,
but last year, pro-China bot accounts
sent them out over Twitter and Facebook.
This is the first time we've seen footage
of an entirely fictitious fake person
used in the politically motivated
influence operation.
Of this particular
set of videos
was promoted by an operation
that we call camouflage,
which we've been tracking
since at least 2019
and routinely amplifies
narratives that align
with Beijing's strategic interests.
Research firm GRAPHIKA
issued a report
on this broader campaign
that says, in part,
more videos portrayed the U.S.
in a negative light
than focused on any other theme,
presenting it
as a lawbreaking hegemonic stick
racked by civil strife
and failing in the fight against COVID 19
This meeting is of great significance.
They pushed China's geopolitical agenda.
Gun violence has killed
nearly 40,000 people
and exposed America's shortcomings.
The US National Security Commission
on Artificial Intelligence says A.I.
is deepening
the threat posed by cyber attacks
and disinformation campaigns.
That Russia,
China and others
are using to infiltrate our society,
steal our data and interfere
in our democracy.
Hey there.
I'm Anna Hey there.
I'm Jason and these fake news anchors.
They were made with technology
from British artificial intelligence
company synthesizer.
Let me show you how easy it is
to create your own deepfake video.
So I'm on the SYNTHESE,
a company website.
I'm clicking on Create a Free AI video.
And for the script,
how about let's have the avatar say hi.
I'm a correspondent for CNN.
They say I'll get the video in my email
in just a few minutes.
Hi, I'm a correspondent for CNN.
Thanks, Anderson,
for having me on your show.
Cynthia's website
shows that the technology is mainly used
for corporate training
and marketing videos.
The company said in a statement
to CNN
the recent videos
that emerged are in breach
of our terms of service,
and we have identified and banned
the user in question.
Graphika says these news anchor
deepfake videos are low quality
and did not get a lot of traction
on social media
to build a better world with.
But this technology is spreading
rapidly around the world.
I know just
a few years ago,
a Chinese tech firm
made this deepfake video
of then-President Donald Trump
speaking Mandarin
as a demonstration
to promote their company's technology
at a Beijing conference.
Chinese state
media has even
created a whole team of AI news anchors.
They're showing it off as a novel
new technology
that can mass produce
shows with these anchors that can work.
20 47.
The proliferation of deepfake videos
makes it dramatically harder
to combat disinformation.
Experts say
it's used by foreign and criminal actors
will only grow bending reality
And I'm joined now
by an actual human, Selina Wang.
Selina, thanks for joining us.
The videos you showed
us, the beginning of your piece,
you said they didn't get much traction
but the potential for this
technology, it's kind of mind boggling.
Yeah, it really is.
I mean, look,
you could tell from those videos
something was off
the mouth, wasn't
aligning with the voice.
They were low quality, clumsily done.
They didn't get a lot of views online,
according to Graphika.
But what is so concerning here
is how
it opens the door
for a whole new territory
in information warfare.
And this technology, it's
only going to get better
There are so many ways that you can see
bad actors taking advantage of this.
It's already
been used to make it look like
global leaders said things they did not.
Last April,
a deep fake of Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky
appearing to tell his soldiers
to surrender
was widely shared online
before the uploads were taken down.
And you saw there
just how easy it was for me
to create my own deepfake.
Literally a matter of minutes.
And when I spoke to Graphika,
the researcher said the biggest benefit
for these kinds of pro
state spam
operations is its efficiency,
the potential to mass produce
this convincing, deceptive content.
Selina Wang, I appreciate it. Thanks.