Need to tell AI-made deepfakes from real pics? Call astronomers Premium
The Hindu
Astronomers develop groundbreaking technique using AI to spot deepfakes in photographs, presented at U.K. Royal Astronomical Society.
Using innovative strategies that astronomers use to identify the shape of distant, dim galaxies, Adejumoke Owolabi, a master’s student at the University of Hull, and her mentor Kevin Pimbblet, a professor of astrophysics and director of the Centre of Excellence for Data Science, Artificial Intelligence and Modelling at the University of Hull, have described a groundbreaking technique to spot deepfakes created by machine-learning artificial intelligence (AI) from genuine photographs.
Their research findings were presented at the U.K. Royal Astronomical Society’s National Astronomy Meeting on 15 July this year.
Deepfake concern
In what The New York Times described as the “First A.I. Election”, Argentina witnessed two rival candidates, Sergio Massa and Javier Milei, using artificial deepfake technology based on AI to create hyper-realistic video, audio, and pictures during their recent election campaigns.
Not too long ago, Russian cyber agents hacked into a Ukrainian television channel and created a deepfaked video of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In the video, he was shown asking his compatriots to lay down their weapons, and it quickly went viral.
Why, during the recent general elections in India, unscrupulous actors used AI tools to create avatars of Indian politicians. Alarmingly, these avatars were manipulated to spread audio and video messages to undermine political rivals.
Others have used deepfake tools to defame actresses by creating pornography involving their images. Such manipulation can make it difficult for the people at large to distinguish real from counterfeit, trap them in insidious narratives and beliefs, and ultimately undermine trust in democratic institutions.
What began as a routine one-week mission for astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule quickly escalated into an unexpected eight-month stay in space. After a successful launch in June 2024, their mission faced multiple technical failures, including thruster malfunctions and helium leaks, making it too risky to return using the Starliner. NASA’s solution? Delay their return until early 2025 aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule. Despite the extended mission, Williams and Wilmore remained resilient, continuing their work on the ISS as NASA worked to resolve the situation.
The story of the first-of-its-kind collaboration between award-winning Indian couturier Rahul Mishra and Italy’s multimillion-dollar fashion house Tod’s goes back to 2017 when their paths crossed in Paris. The latter reached out to Rahul — who had created waves in the industry with his couture edits at platforms like Paris Fashion Week — for a limited-edition handcrafted capsule of bags and shoes, which provoked his fiercely creative mind to take up the challenge. Made with absolute luxury of time and embroidered with intricate details, the Rahul Mishra X Tod’s has been launched today, during London Fashion Week, at Tod’s Bond Street Boutique.