Resurrection

A young grime performer from Birmingham has been brought ‘back to life’ with deepfake technology in a bid to raise awareness of knife crime after he was murdered.

British 18-year-old, Joshua Ribera was stabbed outside a nightclub in 2003. His mum, Alison Cope now is an anti-knife campaigner. In a bid to make the teaching of youth violence compulsory in schools, she worked with various artists to create a deepfake AI video of ‘Depzman’ rapping about the effects knife-crime has on families.

Depzman toured with grime star Skepta where he built up a huge following in that scene. The high quality deepfake video cleverly uses AI technology to talk about heartbreak, destroyed families and tells kids to think twice before packing a knife. The video, released on SBTV, has spread on social media gaining more than a million views on TikTok and shared by rappers Jaykae, JME and Skepta. It was played on 65 prison TVs around the UK.

Who created the deepfake?

Alison Cope
Jamal Edwards

Was the content disclosed as a deepfake?

Yes

Was the deepfake consensual?

Yes

How was the deepfake created?

Deepfake Software
Video Editing
Voice cloning software
Lip syncing software  

Victims of the Beirut explosion have been 'brought back to life' in a call for justice on the one year anniversary of the August 2020 event.

Independent station MTV News featured the deepfake video of two victims, Ralph Mallahi and Amin Al-Zahed, speaking directly to the camera.

‘A Letter to the Lebanese Judiciary' calls on authorities to deliver justice. Filmmakers obtained consent from the victims’ families but some comments on social media found it tasteless and disturbing to present deceased people delivering politically charged messages and reported the content.

Who created the deepfake?

Lebanon's MTV News

Was the content disclosed as a deepfake?

Yes

Was the deepfake consensual?

Yes

How was the deepfake created?

Visual Effects
Deepfake Software
Video Editing

Intent flowchart rating?

Good

Mexican journalist Javier Valdez Cárdenas has been brought back to life with synthetic media three years after his death.

The deepfake was created by an organisation that supports threatened journalists and their families in Mexico, where speaking out about certain subjects puts a target on your head. Agencias Publicis carried out the project based on an old interview with Valdez using an AI technique based on synthesizing the human image by superimposing computer-generated images.

The video was part of a larger campaign called #SeguimosHablando, a call for an end to state-backed violence against the press. Valdez was reanimated with consent from his widow, a fellow journalist, in order to demand justice about press freedoms.

Who created the deepfake?

Propuesta Civica

Was the content disclosed as a deepfake?

Yes

Was the deepfake consensual?

Yes

How was the deepfake created?

Deepfake Software
Video Editing

The parents of mass school shooting victim Joaquin Oliver launched an AI campaign, bringing him 'back to life' to encourage youth to vote and end gun violence.

Using deepfake technology, the video captures the spirit of Joaquin, who was murdered in the Parkland massacre. He speaks passionately and says despite being gone for two years, nothing has changed – people are still being killed by guns and Americans need to vote for change.

The Unfinished Votes Initiative calls for people to vote for those who were killed by gun violence, advocates for gun safety regulations and exposes the effects of mass shootings. Joe Biden responded saying his heart goes out to the Oliver family and that what they're doing matters. He urges people to defeat gun violence before it defeats us. The video had 2,200,000 views in 24 hours and in 2020 there were 1,290 gun sense politicians elected.

Who created the deepfake?

McCann Health and Oliver's family

Was the content disclosed as a deepfake?

Yes

Was the deepfake consensual?

Yes

How was the deepfake created?

Deepfake Software
Video Editing

Actor Michael York has had his voice cloned for an educational video to promote awareness of amyloidosis, a disease he suffers from.

The animated film helps people understand the rare condition but needed to be updated. About 10 years ago, York’s health condition impaired his iconic voice so the new audio wasn’t an effective match with the original narration, tone and cadence. Respeecher created an AI model to match the source voice with York’s target voice, using raw data from the animated film’s original recording session. The project has since been of wide-reaching service among conferences, universities, clinics, meetings, and communities worldwide.

The video shows that people who are no longer able to communicate will be able to do so using a voice synthesiser, which could even be controlled by their minds.

Who created the deepfake?

Respeecher

Was the content disclosed as a deepfake?

Yes

Was the deepfake consensual?

Yes

How was the deepfake created?

Deepfake Software
Video Editing
Voice cloning

A group of Holocaust survivors have been able to live on to share their experiences during the war using deepfake technology.

The USC Shoah Foundation used cutting-edge solutions to preserve Holocaust testimonies. More than 2,000 questions were asked over a week of filming in order to provide answers for future generations.

Despite pushback from the project the 20 plus survivors aged 80 and above were keen to sign up and share their memories.

Who created the deepfake?

USC Shoah Foundation
Partnership on AI

Was the content disclosed as a deepfake?

Yes

Was the deepfake consensual?

Yes

How was the deepfake created?

Deepfake Software
Video Editing

The Dalí Museum released a video with a deepfake of the deceased famous artist.

The aim was to attract visitors for an exhibition with the theme “art meets AI”. The Museum in Florida created the installation to bring the artist back to life after 30 years and to help visitors connect to his art in a new way. The script for the campaign was taken from real interviews with Dalí to make the video as realistic as possible.

The video emerged after a thousand hours of AI learning, six thousand frames of Dalí video footage and over 190,000 video combinations. Hank Hine, the executive director at the Dalí Museum said that the impact was profound and has a spiritual impact but many

Who created the deepfake?

Goodby
Silverstein & Partners

Was the content disclosed as a deepfake?

Yes

Was the deepfake consensual?

Unknown

How was the deepfake created?

Machine Learning-Powered Video Editing Technique
Archival footage from interviews
Dalí’s Impersonator
Voice actor who could mimic his unique accent - a mix of French, Spanish, and English

An AI-generated living portrait of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa went viral as people saw the iconic lady move her lips, nod her head and look from side to side.

Researchers in Moscow developed the videos from just one single image. Using the method known as single-shot learning, researchers also brought celebrities back to life, including Marilyn Monroe and Albert Einstein.

Who created the deepfake?

Samsung’s AI lab
Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology

‍Was the content disclosed as a deepfake?

No

Was the deepfake consensual?

Unknown

How was the deepfake created?

Deepfake Software
Few-Shot Adversarial Learning of Realistic Neural Talking Head Models

A documentary on Anthony Bourdain’s life has sparked a debate over the ethical use of artificial intelligence to bring the late celebrity chef ‘back to life’.

Director Morgan Neville teamed up with a software company to use AI to synthetically create the reading of an email by Bourdain.

Major issues arose when Bourdain’s ex-wife took to Twitter disputing claims of consent - a major concern when resurrecting deceased people. Neville’s comments in a New Yorker interview — “we can have a documentary ethics panel about it later” were regarded as ignorant and dismissive by many.

Who created the deepfake?

Morgan Neville

Was the content disclosed as a deepfake?

No

Was the deepfake consensual?

No

How was the deepfake created?

Visual Effects
Deepfake Software
Video Editing
AI software company