Don't Believe Your Eyes

James O’Malley on how deepfakes” ushered in a new generation of digital fakery

If you’re a geek like I am, then you’ll remember the dramatic moment at the end of 2016 Star Wars prequel Rogue One when just before the closing credits we catch a brief glimpse of a fresh-faced Princess Leia, looking as though Carrie Fisher had just stepped out of a time machine from 1977.

The digital recreation was a big technical achievement. It was almost perfect, and was clearly the result of thousands of hours of work by the animators and artists working on the film.

But just two years later, a new technology arrived that would render Rogue One almost quaint: the “Deepfake”. Suddenly, instead of requiring skilled artists, digital face-swaps could be created with little more than a bedroom PC. And the technology can be used to put words in the mouth of, well, pretty much anyone.

For example, one famous early deepfake saw a video of President Obama modified to show him calling Donald Trump a “total and complete dips**t." And in 2020, Channel 4 created a similar fake video of the Queen for its annual Alternative Christmas Message.