In a recent study published in the PLOS One magazine, participants in an online experiment fell victim to false memories of films that do not actually exist. The creation of these fake memories was observed through a series of videos using deepfake technology.
Deepfake videos are created using artificial intelligence to realistically replace the faces or voices of one person with those of another. The tools for creating deepfakes have become cheaper and more accessible, which has sparked discussions about their creative capabilities and potential risks, such as the spread of false information and manipulation of audience memory.
To investigate these potential risks, Gillian Murphy, one of the authors of the study, along with colleagues, conducted an online survey with 436 participants. The survey included watching a video with deepfake faces of fake films featuring other actors in the main roles. For example, Will Smith in the role of Neo in “The Matrix” originally performed by Keanu Reeves, and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in a fake remake of another film. The study also included video clips from real remakes, such as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Remember All,” “Carrie,” and “Lara Croft.” In some cases, participants read text descriptions of the remakes instead of viewing deepfake videos. The participants were not informed that the deepfakes were false until the end of the survey.
According to Murphy, the deepfake videos and text descriptions of fake films led to the same number of false memories. On average, almost half of the participants (49%) believed that the fake remakes were real after viewing the deepfake videos or reading the fake text descriptions. Some participants even reported remembering the fake remakes better than the originals. However, the level of false memories from text descriptions was also high, indicating that deepfake technology is not significantly more powerful in distorting memory compared to other tools.
Many participants expressed their dislike for the use of deepfake technology in film production, citing concerns about artistic integrity and a disruption of cinema perception. The findings of this study could contribute to the development and regulation of technologies for replacing faces and voices in cinema.