Following last week’s controversial calls from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) for legally mandated labeling of “deepfake” images, on Monday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre attributed videos showing President Joe Biden appearing to lack vigor and attentiveness at several recent public events to the creation of “deepfakes.”
President Biden’s team are calling for social media companies to take action against the videos.
Deepfakes are highly realistic digital creations where one person’s image or voice is swapped with someone else’s using advanced artificial intelligence (AI). These AI systems, particularly those that use deep learning, are trained to capture and replicate human behaviors and expressions precisely.
Jean-Pierre criticized these videos of Biden as manipulative and designed with malicious intent. “We’re seeing these deepfakes, these manipulated videos, and it is, again, done in bad faith,” Jean-Pierre stated during a press briefing.
Jean-Pierre also used the term “cheapfakes” to describe these videos, which included one showing President Biden prematurely crouching on stage before sitting alongside First Lady Jill Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron.
She also labeled as a “deepfake” footage of Biden seeming to stray aimlessly at the G7 summit in Italy, from where Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni then redirected him towards the group of world leaders for the photo opportunity.
The press secretary’s comments were in response to recent inquiries about whether the alleged confusion exhibited by President Biden, who is America’s oldest President, was affecting his performance.
Jean-Pierre emphasized what she called the misleading nature of the videos, describing them as “false” and “purposefully being altered.”
