Deepfake

A deepfake is synthetic media, usually video or audio, generated or manipulated with AI so someone seems to speak, move, or act in ways they did not. Under the EU AI Act (Article 3(60)), a deepfake is AI-generated or manipulated image, audio, or video content resembling real people, objects, places, institutions, or events that could falsely appear authentic to a person.

Deployers of systems that generate or manipulate deepfakes must disclose that content is artificially created or manipulated (Article 50(4)). See the EU AI Act article. Generative AI and GANs provide technical background; see the GAN article for the 2014 research origin and early debates about fakes.