Ride the Lightning

Worried About the Election? Microsoft Launches Deepfake Detection Tool

September 3, 2020

TechCrunch reported on September 2 that Microsoft has launched a tool, called Video Authenticator, which provides what Microsoft calls "a percentage chance, or confidence score" that the media has been artificially manipulated. There is a growing body of technologies trying to identify "synthetic media" (aka deepfakes).

"In the case of a video, it can provide this percentage in real-time on each frame as the video plays," Microsoft says in a blog post announcing the tech. "It works by detecting the blending boundary of the deepfake and subtle fading or greyscale elements that might not be detectable by the human eye."

The blog post warns the tech may offer only passing utility in the AI-fueled disinformation arms race: "The fact that [deepfakes are] generated by AI that can continue to learn makes it inevitable that they will beat conventional detection technology. However, in the short run, such as the upcoming U.S. election, advanced detection technologies can be a useful tool to help discerning users identify deepfakes."

Microsoft says its Video Authenticator tool was created using a public dataset from Face Forensic++ and tested on the DeepFake Detection Challenge Dataset, which it notes are "both leading models for training and testing deepfake detection technologies".

It's partnering with the San Francisco-based AI Foundation to make the tool available to organizations involved in the democratic process this year — including news outlets and political campaigns.

The tool has been developed by its R&D division, Microsoft Research, in coordination with its Responsible AI team and an internal advisory body on AI, Ethics and Effects in Engineering and Research Committee — as part of a wider program Microsoft is running aimed at defending democracy from threats posed by disinformation.

"We expect that methods for generating synthetic media will continue to grow in sophistication . . . As all AI detection methods have rates of failure, we have to understand and be ready to respond to deepfakes that slip through detection methods. Thus, in the longer term, we must seek stronger methods for maintaining and certifying the authenticity of news articles and other media. There are few tools today to help assure readers that the media they're seeing online came from a trusted source and that it wasn't altered."

Microsoft has also announced a system that will enable content producers to add digital hashes and certificates to media that remain in their metadata as the content travels online — providing a reference point for authenticity.

The second component of the system is a reader tool, which can be deployed as a browser extension, for checking certificates and matching the hashes to provide the viewer with what Microsoft calls "a high degree of accuracy" that a particular piece of content is authentic/hasn't been changed.

The certification will also provide the viewer with details about who produced the media.

Microsoft is hoping this digital watermarking authenticity system will end up underpinning a Trusted News Initiative announced last year by UK publicly funded broadcaster, the BBC — specifically for a verification component, called Project Origin, which is led by a coalition of the BBC, CBC/Radio-Canada, Microsoft and The New York Times.

It says the digital watermarking tech will be tested by Project Origin with the aim of developing it into a standard that can be adopted widely.

"The Trusted News Initiative, which includes a range of publishers and social media companies, has also agreed to engage with this technology. In the months ahead, we hope to broaden work in this area to even more technology companies, news publishers and social media companies," Microsoft added.

Hat tip to Dave Ries.

Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President, Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
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