Author: Aftab Erfan, Associate Member, School of Public Policy & Executive Director, Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, Simon Fraser University

If you use social media, you’ve likely come across deepfakes. These are video or audio clips of politicians, celebrities or others manipulated using artificial intelligence (AI) to make it appear like the person is saying or doing something they haven’t actually said or done. If you are freaked out by the idea of deepfakes, you are not alone. Our recent public opinion research conducted in British Columbia found that for 90 per cent of respondents, deepfakes are top of the list of major concerns with AI. To say there is much hype about AI is an understatement. Media reports and…