Artificial intelligence art generators are trained on billions of existing images. When you enter a prompt, the AI art generator builds an image by combining aspects of its training data into a single image. Meanwhile, deepfakes are trained on photographs and videos of one subject to replicate that subject. Deepfake technology can depict a person saying or doing something that they never did. Both of these technologies can be used in a harmless way or maliciously.
Deepfake Scams
Scammers can use deepfake technology to impersonate celebrities or other public figures. The more pictures or videos of the person, the more accurate the deepfake model. This type of scam can make it seem like a celebrity has endorsed a product even though they have not. Scammers impersonate a celebrity to trick victims into purchasing a fake product and steal their financial information. Deepfakes can be used for political figures as well. A deepfake video can make it appear that a government official said or did something that they didn’t actually say or do. These types of videos can lure people into visiting fake websites or news articles.
AI-Generated Art and Photograph Scams
Cybercriminals commonly use AI in online romance scams. They can generate fake photographs to use in dating profiles to steal money or info from their victim. Additionally, they can create realistic photographs of tragedies. In this case their goal is to elicit donations that the criminals then pocket instead of giving to real tragedy victims.
What Can I Do to Stay Safe?
- Where possible, verify the claim from another source. For example, if you see a video with a celebrity endorsement or political statement, check the person’s official website to corroborate the claim.
- Keep an eye out for anything in a picture that appears to be unusual, like extra fingers or odd lighting. AI-generated images often have subtle mistakes. As the technology improves, these mistakes will be harder to spot.
- If a picture seems bizarre or too good to be true, it could be a scam. Stop and think before taking action.