When talking about deepfakes, it is usually to warn about the dangers of this technology and its misuses, since it makes it very difficult to distinguish a real video from one that has been manipulated by putting words to people who have not said them or faces to people which was not actually there.
However, deepfakes can have numerous ‘non-malicious’ applications and utilities. Some companies related to the media are studying how to take advantage of them to be able to offer news or announcements quickly, but without losing that human touch that implies that they are read by a news presenter.
The Reuters news agency has announced that it is collaborating with an artificial intelligence startup called Synthesia . Both have worked hand in hand on a new project that will use deepfake technology to generate automated news in real time.
How does it work? Will this invention take away the work of presenters like Matías Prats? In the beginning everything is based on previously recorded videos of a real live journalist / actor. The tool would take data from sports results (especially football matches) instantly and would have the ability to generate complete news including photos and a script.
Capable of doing a complete sports newscast
Synthesia and Reuters would use a neural network similar to Deepfakes so that their presenter – already virtual – can say whatever he has been programmed to do. Thus, almost in real time it is possible to obtain an informative piece with a face that tells and interprets it. Thanks to the facility to configure these news based on numbers and data, the virtual presenter can be prepared to tell what has happened in a large number of sporting events or to update for each milestone that occurs (goals, penalties, etc. ).
In principle the system has been designed as a proof of concept. Reuters has warned that for now it is simply a prototype and is not necessarily a tool that you plan to implement in the future.
However, the agency’s Head of Central News Product and Services, Nick Cohem, said in a statement that they have always been at the forefront in exploring the potential of new technologies to distribute news and information. Furthermore, he stresses that “this kind of prototyping is helping us understand how artificial intelligence and synthetic media can be combined with our photography and reporting sources to create products and services of a whole new kind.”
Deepfakes could have many uses on a day-to-day basis. It’s something that different companies are working on. For example, during CES in Las Vegas Samsung showed a technology called Neon, which is based on ‘artificial humans’. The Korean company uses CGI (computer generated imagery) to create characters or avatars that in appearance are completely human and can multilingual. Companies could use them for customer service, hotel reception, information booths, etc.
