On the 14th, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced the seizure of 12 domains suspected of using AI technology to illegally produce “deepfake” content, marking the largest law enforcement operation to date targeting such illicit activity. Confirmed investigative findings indicate that approximately 1,200 individuals have fallen victim to deepfakes hosted on the seized websites.
“Deepfake” technology utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) to learn a real person’s appearance, voice, and movements, subsequently generating or manipulating images or audio recordings of the subject according to user specifications. Capable of creating highly realistic fakes—particularly of public figures—the technology can mislead viewers into believing a subject said something they never actually said or performed actions that never actually occurred; it is widely exploited for purposes such as the creation of illicit pornography, reputational smearing, and political attacks.