Deepfakes are videos, images, or audio clips created by advanced artificial intelligence to mimic real people and events. At first glance, they seem harmless — a familiar face speaking familiar words. But beneath the surface, clever code is making them increasingly believable.
Here’s how it works: Generative AI systems called GANs — short for generative adversarial networks — train on huge collections of photos, voices, and videos. They learn facial expressions, body movements, and speech patterns, then blend them to create content that looks and sounds real. With every update, these fakes become harder to tell apart from reality.
Deepfake creators added heartbeats
Some newer deepfakes include subtle pulse movements in the neck to seem more lifelike.
Fake voices fooled families
Scammers have cloned voices to impersonate relatives and trick people into sending money.
Humans are also easy to trick. Studies show that even trained observers can be wrong nearly a third of the time when judging whether a video or voice is real. As deepfakes improve, the clues we once relied on — odd blinking, awkward lip-syncing, frozen smiles — are vanishing.
Deepfakes can be entertaining, but they also carry risks. From fake news and scams to impersonations, they can blur the line between fact and fiction. The best defence? Stay curious, question what you see, and remember — when digital reality looks too perfect, it probably isn’t.