With rapid technological advances, the fight against deepfakes has taken on greater urgency worldwide. From academia to governments and businesses, numerous stakeholders are stepping up efforts to detect, regulate, and protect against these digital threats.
One notable development comes from the University at Buffalo, which announced its Deepfake-O-Meter, a tool designed to democratise deepfake detection. According to a report published by the University of Buffalo, the tool is aimed at improving public access to deepfake identification, allowing users to detect manipulated videos or images, with the goal of empowering individuals to safeguard themselves against disinformation, which is increasingly facilitated by AI-generated media.
Elsewhere, a team of scholars from Hong Kong and Macau recently won a global deepfake detection challenge across a variety of different image types and scenarios, providing a positive light amid a proliferation of faked and manipulated content online.
The business world is also addressing the rise of deepfakes. Companies like authID have responded to the threat with comprehensive white papers. In a recently published report, the company highlights how deepfakes pose significant risks to enterprises, particularly in financial services. The paper outlines strategies to protect businesses against impersonation attacks and emphasises the importance of integrating biometric security tools as a defense.
Meanwhile, Singapore is taking decisive action against the potential misuse of deepfakes in elections. In a proactive move, the Singaporean government is moving forward with legislation that would ban deepfakes targeting election candidates. This regulation is part of a broader effort to preserve the integrity of the political process by preventing the spread of false information during election periods.
On September 9, 2024, the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) introduced the Elections (Integrity of Online Advertising) (Amendment) Bill in Parliament, Singapore Business review reports. The proposed legislation seeks to ban the publication of digitally altered or generated online election ads that portray a candidate as saying or doing something they did not actually say or do.
