With elections around the corner (did you hear?!), I was thinking it would be a good time to talk about deepfakes. My guess is that most of us have heard the term, but haven’t fully understood what they are or what to think about them – except that they’re fake videos of people used for harm or humor. There’s a lot more to it than that, and my goal today is to address everything the rest of us need to know about them.

Before we dig in, I want to call your attention to a new addition to the newsletter. For all you premium subscribers, you’ll see a box just below this note with a link to “Listen to Deepfakes.” Click the link, push play, and you’ll hear two people talking for about 10 minutes about the content in the newsletter. That might sound boring, but try it. The crazy thing is ... these two people aren’t actually people. The podcast is 100% AI-generated – and it’s very, very good. If you want to know more about that particular technology, check out the Explorers bit within the It’s Play Time section below.

Alright, here we go...

– Kyser

P.S. Be sure to follow us on Instagram for content throughout the week.

In the Know

Imagine this: You're scrolling through one of your social media feeds, and suddenly, there's a video of you performing Love Story at a karaoke bar in Tokyo. But you've never been to Tokyo. And you’re not even a karaoke person. And you don’t even know the song Love Story (my daughter would be ashamed). Welcome to the world of deepfakes, where real is fake and fake is real.

Let’s Learn Something

AI in the Wild