Earlier this year, a lawsuit was filed in the US against the viral face-swapping application Reface for commercially exploiting photos of celebrities. The Reface application uses artificial intelligence (AI) to create hyper-realistic face swaps. The app allows anyone to digitally paste a photograph of any individual’s face onto a picture or video of another individual. There are several such applications available for free over app stores.
While face swapping apps are meant for harmless fun, its potential threats came to the fore earlier this year when a scamster used this technology to impersonate the victim’s close friend and duped him of over 4.3 million yuan (approx. Rs 5 crore).
Here are some dangers of AI face swap technology:
Rise in misinformation: One of the most significant dangers of AI face swap is the spread of misinformation and fake news. These applications successfully manipulate videos and images and create content that appears to be genuine.
Access to sensitive data: By impersonating others, fraudsters can easily gain unauthorised access to sensitive data and commit crimes using someone else’s identity.
Cyberbullying and harassment: It is possible for cyber bullies to manipulate the pictures and videos of people and harass them.
Revenge porn: Perpetrators can use AI face swap to create explicit content with the faces of non-consenting individuals, causing emotional and psychological harm.
These dangers underscore the importance of ethical and responsible use of AI face swap technology, as well as the need for strong regulations and safeguards to mitigate its negative impacts.
AI face swap applications, often used for harmless fun, can also pose certain threats and risks for users:
Privacy concerns: When individuals use AI face swap apps for fun, they may inadvertently share images or videos of themselves or others without consent, raising privacy issues.
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Potential for abuse: Individuals may use face swap apps to create content that is offensive, harmful, or disrespectful to others, even if it’s intended as a joke.
Loss of control: Sharing images or videos with AI face swap apps on social media platforms means relinquishing some control over how that content is used or misused by others.
It’s important to use such technology responsibly and respect the privacy and consent of individuals featured in the content.
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
First published on: 28-10-2023 at 12:52 IST
