If you search on the social media platform TikTok for ‘deepfake Tom Cruise’, what you find can surprise you. What started as an art project quickly went viral, with videos of the Hollywood star playing sport, performing a magic trick and dancing. These videos gathered millions of views on the social media platform. Except it wasn’t Tom Cruise. They were all deepfakes. Viewers were astounded, as they struggled to believe that they were not watching Tom Cruise.
So, how did it work? The creator trained an AI model, spent days shooting the videos with a professional actor (but not Tom Cruise!), and then used visual effects and video editing to make the clips look as real as possible.
Tom Cruise is not your average person, but the same technology can be used to create deepfakes of anyone. And while the Tom Cruise deepfake was a fun project, purely for entertainment, many deepfakes are created by people with bad intentions. By being careful about the information you share online, you can protect yourself against deepfakes.