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BBC documentary used face-swapping AI to hide protesters' identities

newscientist.com

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Re: BBC documentary used face-swapping AI to hide protesters' identities

#61

Post by jazzyjackson »

my_city wrote: post #51
alvarezbjm-hn wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You said "The United Kingdom is the worst offender in this, they violently repressed any revolutionary attempt in their colonies." And they you said it is fine that China does it? Hong Kong is more like Puerto Rico than like Texas. However, people from Hong Kong don't want to live under the ccp, while Puerto Ricans complain they arent better integrated to the US. Go figure.

Please locate Honk Kong in a map. Tell me in what world Honk Kong is comparable in any way to Puerto Rico or some random british colony

they're self-governed but rely on a super power for protection, what do i win?

Re: BBC documentary used face-swapping AI to hide protesters' identities

#63

Post by emptyparadise »

partiallypro wrote: post #7

This seems to have a glaring flaw in that a fake AI generated person could have a real-world doppelganger, which a tyrannical government could mistakenly arrest, or worse.

What if you used the faces of that tyrannical government's leadership?

Re: BBC documentary used face-swapping AI to hide protesters' identities

#64

Post by upsidesinclude »

partiallypro wrote: post #7

This seems to have a glaring flaw in that a fake AI generated person could have a real-world doppelganger, which a tyrannical government could mistakenly arrest, or worse.

It's not even AI generated faces!

They claim that they face swapped real interviews of participants with actors instead of just having the actors perform the piece....

Re: BBC documentary used face-swapping AI to hide protesters' identities

#65

Post by upsidesinclude »

richbell wrote: post #26
upsidesinclude wrote: post #17

This makes absolutely no sense. If you wanted anonymity and were willing to go to these lengths, then the face could be fully fictitious and AI generated. Thereby placing no one in fear of government retribution. This only makes sense if you filmed actors and wanted to cover that glaring mistake in your propaganda, because you lack the necessary talent to actually render them with AI. I don't buy it. Not a fan of aut…

> This only makes sense if you filmed actors and wanted to cover that glaring mistake in your propaganda, because you lack the necessary talent to actually render them with AI. Can you elaborate what you mean by this? I don't understand how you're concluding that this only makes sense if it's to cover up propaganda. Using actors as surrogates to protect people is a common practice, and this is a logical step forward…

Read my comment again.

This press release only makes any sense if they intend to preemptively combat investigations which show that these are actors and not the people that they claim.

Re: BBC documentary used face-swapping AI to hide protesters' identities

#66

Post by richbell »

upsidesinclude wrote: post #65
richbell wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This only makes sense if you filmed actors and wanted to cover that glaring mistake in your propaganda, because you lack the necessary talent to actually render them with AI. Can you elaborate what you mean by this? I don't understand how you're concluding that this only makes sense if it's to cover up propaganda. Using actors as surrogates to protect people is a common practice, and this is a logical step forward…

Read my comment again. This press release only makes any sense if they intend to preemptively combat investigations which show that these are actors and not the people that they claim.

I read your comment several times before replying; it still doesn't make sense.

> This press release only makes any sense if they intend to preemptively combat investigations which show that these are actors and not the people that they claim.

That assumes that there was a pretense that the people and identies are real. Documentaries and exposés commonly use methods to protect their subject's identities, including using actors and distorting the face/voice.

Re: BBC documentary used face-swapping AI to hide protesters' identities

#67

Post by movedx »

brookst wrote: post #56
movedx wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Interesting question if that is ethical or not. It's likely not ethical, and I'm confident it's probably illegal. For example, can you setup a billboard at the side of a highway with Tom Hank's face on it and a quote that speaks to anti-trans rights, has a homophobic remark, or perhaps an anti-CCP statement? Probably not. I'd say this is no different.

I didn’t see anything indicating whether or not the actors had licensed their likeness for this use. Wouldn’t that matter?

It probably would, yeah. And I would imagine the BBC would have such (concrete) agreements in place, for sure.

Re: BBC documentary used face-swapping AI to hide protesters' identities

#68

Post by paranoidrobot »

hjanssen wrote: post #39

It says in the article that the faces are swapped with those of actors. Are those something like film actors? Because that would actually be amazing, completely dodging the drawback several commenters here have mentioned that faces of innocent people could be used. Actors faces are already public. Then again,I would probably be pissed when my face would be used as a mask to say something I might not agree with. Inter…

Using actors in news stories is pretty standard when the interviewee does not want to appear on camera, or use their own voice.

There's a long history of this kind of masking:

- Backlighting, with the face in deep shadow. Possibly with the original interviewee or an actor.

- Voice-Masking with some kind of voice-changer

- Using a voice-actor to say the words.

I would see this as the next evolution of this process.

So long as The actor being portrayed has given their consent to do this (they were hired for this specific job), and the facial expressions/behaviors are genuinely recreated I don't see any ethical or moral issues.

Re: BBC documentary used face-swapping AI to hide protesters' identities

#69

Post by janalsncm »

mansion7 wrote: post #22
dmix wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A "glaring flaw" because of some extreme and unlikely scenario? Why would governments be using AI modified content to look for people to arrest? Is this really a serious risk to dissuade using it? Seems pretty unlikely that it simultaneously a) exclusively be used as the source + b) actually matches someone IRL.

The USA itself put out a nationwide manhunt, distributing video to news outlets, asking the public to assist in identifying protesters whose only known alleged crime was trespassing.

If you look at the J6 convictions it is for far more than trespassing. Interrupting the electoral college count turns out to be a pretty big deal.

Re: BBC documentary used face-swapping AI to hide protesters' identities

#70

Post by janalsncm »

astrea wrote: post #44

Why even bother with this? I understand to preserve facial expressions, but why not fully use actors or sacrifice “the art” of it all and hide the faces completely. This opens up the possibility of reversing the inference of the face-swapping AI and generating the original face.

I’m not sure how you’d reverse the face swapping process since it’s not a one-to-one function. It’s a many-to-many function. If they mapped everyone’s face to e.g. a player on the Miami Heat there’d be no way to reverse it.
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