The Distinct Wrong of Deepfakes

Abstract

Deepfake technology presents significant ethical challenges. The ability to produce realistic looking and sounding video or audio files of people doing or saying things they did not do or say brings with it unprecedented opportunities for deception. The literature that addresses the ethical implications of deepfakes raises concerns about their potential use for blackmail, intimidation, and sabotage, ideological influencing, and incitement to violence as well as broader implications for trust and accountability. While this literature importantly identifies and signals the potentially far-reaching consequences, less attention is paid to the moral dimensions of deepfake technology and deepfakes themselves. This article will help fill this gap by analysing whether deepfake technology and deepfakes are intrinsically morally wrong, and if so, why. The main argument is that deepfake technology and deepfakes are morally suspect, but not inherently morally wrong. Three factors are central to determining whether a deepfake is morally problematic: (i) whether the deepfaked person(s) would object to the way in which they are represented; (ii) whether the deepfake deceives viewers; and (iii) the intent with which the deepfake was created. The most distinctive aspect that renders deepfakes morally wrong is when they use digital data representing the image and/or voice of persons to portray them in ways in which they would be unwilling to be portrayed. Since our image and voice are closely linked to our identity, protection against the manipulation of hyper-realistic digital representations of our image and voice should be considered a fundamental moral right in the age of deepfakes.

Deepfakes and Democracy (Theory): How Synthetic Audio-Visual Media for Disinformation and Hate Speech Threaten Core Democratic Functions

“…Humanities or social sciences analyses are rare (Godulla et al, 2021 : 82). 6 Philosophers have recently explored deepfakes’ relation to authenticity (Floridi, 2018 ), the inherent moral wrong of deepfakes (Ruiter, 2021 ), and the “epistemic threat” they pose (Fallis, 2020 ). However, while the latter sheds light on how deepfakes affect viewers, it is based on theories of information carrying rather than democracy theory, and only cursorily mentions the “epistemic harms” incurred.…”

“…The Dutch company works on deep learning technologies to monitor and detect deepfakes (see https://medium.com/sensity/tagged/deepfakes , accessed 27 April 2022). Their 2019 report was widely cited in academia, e.g., by Etienne ( 2021 ); Gosse and Burkell ( 2020 ); and Ruiter ( 2021 ) k The website links to the respective tweets, allowing a verification of the information given l Wired is an online magazine reporting on “how technology is changing every aspect of our lives—from culture to business, science to design” (see https://www.wired.com/ , accessed 28 April 2022). The article cited here is an opinion piece by a human rights activist frequently cited in the debate on deepfakes and democracy (see e.g., the WITNESS webtalks listed here) m The article was published on the online platform Medium n The Verge considers itself an “ambitious multimedia effort”.…”

The identification game: deepfakes and the epistemic limits of identity

“…To set the stage for the following argument, it is necessary to briefly summarize how deepfakes are said to harm. The literature includes a number of attempts to specify the various ways in which deepfakes may cause harm to individuals and society (Citron & Chesney, 2019;de Ruiter, 2021;Harris, 2019). In this study, however, I refrain from proposing yet another such conceptual framework.…”

“…That people have at least some such moral right seems uncontroversial among philosophers. As stated by de Ruiter (2021de Ruiter ( , p. 1314) "Protection against the manipulation of digital representations of our face and voice should be considered a fundamental moral right in the age of deepfakes." Many policy makers agree.…”

Are Deepfakes Concerning? Analyzing Conversations of Deepfakes on Reddit and Exploring Societal Implications

“…Deepfakes impact the information consumption experience and have already created negative consequences in society. Although most deepfakes are considered harmful, there has been lengthy debate about ethical implication [17]. One of the latest much debatable incidents was in the use of a deepfake voice in the documentary film "Roadrunner", a film about a celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, who ended his own life due to depression.…”