Deepfakes: New California Laws Address Dangers And Developments

In April, State Farm debuted a commercial that appeared to feature footage from 1998 of ESPN's Kenny Mayne making startlingly, even eerily, accurate predictions. These "predictions" included using the phrase "it's lit" and referencing the now infamous 2012 "butt-fumble" by the New York Jets. Fans were generally delighted by the ad, finding State Farm's use of technology both entertaining and clever.

The ad was generated using "deepfake" video technology. Deepfake videos are created using neural networks trained on real footage of people, usually celebrities, which can then be used to generate new videos with the celebrities as the stars. Although these super-realistic deepfakes allow for exciting creative possibilities, the blurring of reality and fiction created by these videos also poses a number of dangers if used inappropriately.