The unethical origin of deepfakes

Deepfakes began with an unfortunately unethical beginning. The first public deepfakes were created by a Reddit user by the name of /u/Deepfakes. These first videos showing off Deepfake’s capabilities involved putting (usually) female actors into pornographic scenes. This non-consensual pornography was radically different from previous fakes in that they were more realistic, easier to create, and full video, capable of poses and expressions that the target actor had never performed in any recorded media.

Non-consensual pornographic deepfakes are not victimless events. This usage is extremely damaging as it harms the actors in profound ways. With non-consensual deepfakes being made, celebrities are losing control of their image and reputation. Unfortunately, there is no way to completely avoid the threat from deepfakes as even after proving a video isn’t actually of them, the deepfake will still be spread and objectify the actor. Some...