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1 Mar, 10 tweets, 3 min read
“It’s all the real thing,” Tom Cruise insists, looking into the camera.

Except the viral TikTok videos of him are not real: they’re “deepfakes”. But what is a “deepfake”, and why are they so worrying? thetimes.co.uk/article/deepfa…
Deepfake technology first emerged in 2017. It is able to place politicians, celebrities or just any normal person into a video they never participated in, making them say or do things that never happened 💻
The key tool used in deepfakes is machine learning. A person will feed a computer programme hours of real video footage and images of a person to give the machine an understanding of what that person looks like from different angles and under various lights
This would then be combined with computer graphics techniques to superimpose a copy of the person on to a stand-in actor, who may also be able to add their own references of how that person should move
The series of highly realistic fake videos of Tom Cruise have led experts to warn that deepfake technology is advancing much faster than most people are aware of and is set to become a key part of society in the future
While deepfake videos of this quality are normally done by professionals, many apps now offer basic “face swapping” technology that can fool people for a few seconds if they're casually scrolling, says @HenryAjder. This has allowed it to be used in cases such as “revenge porn”
“That for me is a worry. The future will be synthesised, this technology is not going away,” adds @HenryAjder
Sharing “deepfake” images should be a crime, according to experts who fear that the law is not keeping pace with technology and behaviour online thetimes.co.uk/article/sharin…
Read more on the deepfake videos of Tom Cruise thetimes.co.uk/article/deepfa…
Changes to the law will be necessary to safeguard everyone, writes @Mathilde_Pavis thetimes.co.uk/article/deepfa…

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More from @thetimes

2 Mar
#WorldatFive 🌎: The Kremlin’s leading critic refused to take the easy option of staying in exile. But now he must maintain his campaign while serving two and a half years in a brutal penal colony thetimes.co.uk/article/no-reg…
Navalny remained defiant even after his arrest in January in Moscow and a prison sentence for fraud. “I don’t regret that I returned — I did the right thing,” he said, from his steel and glass courtroom cage Image
“Alexei is a Russian politician and a patriot of his country. The option of not returning was not even discussed,” said Ruslan Shaveddinov, an activist at Navalny’s headquarters in Moscow Image
Read 6 tweets
1 Mar
How worried should we be about the Manaus variant? @whippletom investigates 🔍
The key question is not whether the Manaus variant contains worrying mutations; it does. The key question is whether it can spread those mutations here. So far at least, we have good reason to be hopeful it won’t, says @whippletom
Why? One answer, which has become something of a public health mantra, is that even if the vaccines don’t stop infection they will provide strong protection against severe disease 💉
Read 7 tweets
1 Mar
Interview 🎙️ | Are Cam and Jules of #MAFS really as smitten in real life? @francescasteele sits down with them to find out thetimes.co.uk/article/marrie…
Cynics may be inclined to believe that the couple is more contrived than their TV narrative may suggest. When they appear on Zoom, however, they are bubbly and genuine
It’s three years since they met and they have since tied the knot for real. They live together in Sydney and have a five-month-old son, Oliver
Read 9 tweets
27 Feb
What’s to become of Michael Gove?

Boris Johnson’s ally-turned-Judas, who now sits beside him as a key power player in government, appears to be facing another fall from grace. But is it that simple?
thetimes.co.uk/article/boris-…
Ever since Boris Johnson entered Downing Street with a central pledge to “get Brexit done” he has charged Michael Gove with the practicalities of delivering it.

Yet in recent weeks Gove has seen that power stripped and handed to others.
Lord Frost, Johnson’s erstwhile Brexit negotiator, has now assumed Gove’s responsibilities for negotiating the UK’s future relationship with the EU - leaving the cabinet minister increasingly powerless
Read 9 tweets
26 Feb
#WorldatFive 🌎: The arrest of El Chapo's wife may open up new avenues for prosecutors — especially if they decide to co-operate for the sake of their children thetimes.co.uk/article/el-cha…
Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of the Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, is now in a high-security prison in Colorado. Her arrest at Dulles international airport was the latest move by the US government against the Sinaloa cartel
This arrest may open up new possibilities.

David Lorino, former special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s office in Chicago, thought there was a chance that prosecutors hoped her arrest might persuade Guzmán to co-operate
Read 4 tweets
26 Feb
Come June 21, assuming everything remains on target, restrictions in England will be largely at an end.

But will the country be truly back to normal, or to a new normal? And if the latter, what will that mean? @whippletom on what might happen thetimes.co.uk/article/will-t…
Offices

Offices have changed, workers have changed their expectations, employers have learnt just what is possible over Zoom. Pret might well recover, but home working is here to stay
Pubs

One of the reviews that needs to be concluded before June 21 is into social distancing and, specifically, the 1m rule.

If venues have to abide by the rule, it could well make many of them unprofitable
Read 4 tweets

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