Rishi Sunak is planning to decide on further tax cuts and the date of the next UK general

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 3, 2023--

Malaysia’s government says enough rice is available despite recent panic-buying of locally produced rice that led to empty shelves in supermarkets and grocery stores nationwide

Shea Langeliers and Tony Kemp both homered as the Oakland Athletics jumped on Justin Verlander early in a 6-2 win over the Houston Astros

The Las Vegas Aces celebrated their second consecutive WNBA championship Monday night on the Strip and said they aren’t done

The yen slumped back past 150 per dollar again, piling pressure on the Bank of Japan ahead of

A first ever study of wartime “deepfake” videos has found the fake content undermined viewers’ trust in conflict footage to the point they became critical of all footage coming from warzones. The study, from researchers at University College Cork (UCC), is also the first of its kind to find evidence of online conspiracy theories which incorporate deepfakes. Deepfakes are artificially manipulated audio-visual material. Most deepfake videos involve the production of a fake “face” constructed by Artificial Intelligence, that is merged with an authentic video, in order to create a video of an event that never really took place. Although fake, they can look convincing and are often produced to imitate or mimic an individual. The study, titled A new type of weapon in the propaganda war, analysed close to 5,000 tweets on X (formerly Twitter) in the first seven months of 2022 to explore how people react to deepfake content online. The Russia-Ukraine war presented as the first real-life example of deepfakes being used in warfare. The researchers highlight examples of deepfake videos during this war including the use of video game footage as evidence of the urban myth fighter pilot “The Ghost of Kyiv”, and a deepfake of Russian president Vladimir Putin, showing the Russian president announcing peace with Ukraine. The study found deepfakes often undermined users’ trust in the footage they were receiving from the conflict to the point where they lost trust in any footage viewed. As well as the threat coming from the fake content itself, researchers found genuine media contact was being labelled as deepfakes. The study showed that the lack of social media literacy led to significant misunderstandings of what constitutes a deepfake, however, the study also demonstrated that efforts to raise awareness around deepfakes may undermine trust in legitimate videos. Therefore, the study asserts, news media and governmental agencies need to weigh the benefits of educational deepfakes and pre-bunking against the risks of undermining truth. John Twomey, UCC researcher, said much of the misinformation analysed in the study “surprisingly came from the labelling of real media as deepfakes”. “Novel findings about deepfake scepticism also emerged, including a connection between deepfakes fuelling conspiratorial beliefs and unhealthy scepticism,” he said. “The evidence in this study shows that efforts to raise awareness around deepfakes may undermine our trust in legitimate videos. “With the prevalence of deepfakes online, this will cause increasing challenges for news media companies who should be careful in how they label suspected deepfakes in case they cause suspicion around real media.” Mr Twomey added: “News coverage of deepfakes needs to focus on educating people on what deepfakes are, what their potential is, and both what their current capabilities are and how they will evolve in the coming years”. Dr Conor Linehan, from UCC’s School of Applied Psychology, said researchers “have long feared that deepfakes have the potential to undermine truth”. “Deepfake videos could undermine what we know to be true when fake videos are believed to be authentic and vice versa,” he said. This study is part of broader work by UCC’s School of Applied Psychology examining the psychological impact of deepfakes. Read More More than 500 potential cyber attacks logged every second, BT says AI being used to create child abuse imagery, watchdog warns ChatGPT and other chatbots ‘can be tricked into making code for cyber attacks’ Tinder adds Matchmaker feature to let friends recommend potential dates Google and Meta withdraw from upcoming Web Summit ‘Game-changing’ facial recognition technology catches prolific shoplifters

Megyn Kelly calls out NPR for running news headlines about Gaza casualties without 'sourcing' it accurately

Nate Diaz has a reputation for playing mind games with his opponents and this may be indicative of that

On Tuesday's broadcast, the self-proclaimed villain James Holzhauer pushed his limits during the intense opening match of the semifinals

Milan Kundera, the author of "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" whose dark, provocative novels delved into the enigma of the human condition, has died, a spokeswoman for the Milan Kundera Library in his native city...

What the papers say Mohamed Salah is again in the spotlight with Saudi side Al-Ittihad gearing up to make a mammoth £215million bid for the Egypt forward, the Sun reports. Liverpool are said to be reluctant to let the prolific 31-year-old go, but their resolve could be tested with the world-record offer . The Daily Mail reports West Ham are looking to make a short-term contract offer for free agent Jesse Lingard, who has impressed club bosses at training. The most likely offer would be an incentivised deal until the end of the season with an option to extend. Fulham duo Joao Palhinha and Tosin Adarabioyo could see their moves away from the club revived in January, the Mail says. Palhinha saw a potential transfer to Bayern Munich fall through on deadline day and it was a similar story for Adarabioyo with Monaco, but both moves could yet still happen during the next transfer window. Social media round-up Players to watch Hugo Lloris: The Evening Standard says the Tottenham goalkeeper is set to remain at the club until at least January. Kasper Schmeichel: Anderlecht are chasing the Denmark goalkeeper after he parted ways with Nice last week. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live