Deepfake Queen Elizabeth II will deliver “alternative” Christmas message

There is relatively little risk that someone will look at Channel 4’s deepfake and consider it a genuine message from the Queen. Aside from the fact that actress Debra Stephenson just doesn’t make a good impression, the topics are supposedly under discussion – a candid approach to Harry and Meghan’s departure from the royal family and Prince Andrew’s story with financier and sex dealer Jeffrey Epstein – are far outside the typical Queen-ly protocol. And from a technical perspective, the visuals seen here fall far short of reality. For deepfakes, these types of gaps in verisimilitude are not uncommon.

To create these types of adulterated images, neural networks must be trained with as many images as possible of the person to be falsified – once this is done, this “understanding” of the subject’s appearance can be used to map the original face to another person. . Advances in machine learning and the hardware used to power it make creating deepfakes simple for small teams and individuals, but creating really compelling models requires a level of sophistication that few seem to have mastered. For good or ill, this attempt is easily perceived.

Channel 4 says the message is intended to serve as a “full alert” about the worrying potential of fake news and manipulated messages, and the station’s program director said The Guardian that the video is “a powerful reminder that we can no longer trust our own eyes”.

Although Canal 4’s intention may have been to educate, this did not stop the national broadcaster from carrying out the scene. Since the teaser was shared on Twitter last night, the service has been animated by people ridiculing the decision (among other things) for their perception of bad taste and disrespect, as well as the potential this could have in the way people react deepfakes in the future: