Chih Lai and Manjeet Rege, both professors of software engineering and data science at the University of St. Thomas School of Engineering, recently spoke with KSTP about the potential risks and benefits of deepfake videos, and how advancements in artificial intelligence are making these fake videos more indistinguishable from reality.
![KSTP logo 2021](https://news.stthomas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/KSTP-logo-2021-1.png)
From the story:
At the University of St. Thomas, Data Science Professor Chih Lai is using images of fish embryos to teach his students about artificial intelligence and deepfakes.
“So, the one on the left is the real one, the one on the right is the fake one,” he says, pointing to two enlarged images. “It is very interesting for many people to create something just for fun to begin with.”
The right-hand one — generated by an AI program the professor created himself.
Parts of it are slightly fuzzy, what Lai calls ‘a mirror image of reality'...
“The technology ends up in the hands of bad actors,” explains Manjeet Rege, the Director of the Center for Applied Intelligence. “There are fake images and then there are fake videos, and both end up having a similar impact on people. They are relying on information, and they believe that.”