siliconindia | | OCTOBER 20248Synthetic media and deepfakes represent a new era in digital technology, proving the great progress in media generation and editing. As these innovations provide unique opportunities for art and utility, they raise the most severe questions of ethics. This article looks at the various aspects of synthetic media and deepfakes, their uses, effects, and the issues they pose. It also delves deeper into the existing legislation and policies, the countermeasures that are being worked on to prevent misuse and the probable future paths of these technologies. In doing so, it is our intention to learn how to make the most of synthetic media while at the same time mitigating the potential negative implications.Applications & Impacts of Synthetic MediaDeepfakes, for instance, are synthetic media that use AI to create or manipulate digital content in a very realistic manner. This technology can be used in many fields, for example, in entertainment to bring back dead personalities or make actors perform dangerous scenes safely or in education to create an environment that enables students to learn in a virtual environment. However, synthetic media is not without consequences, though the effects may not necessarily be all beneficial. It also has high risks such as fake news dissemination, influence of the people's opinion, and other criminal activities such as identity theft and defamation. In India, the misuse of synthetic media has been explained by some examples where deepfakes were used to disseminate fake news during elections.Ethical Concerns Surrounding DeepfakesThe ethical issues raised by deepfakes are very deep. The potential to generate credible but purely fictional news and stories is problematic in terms of consent, privacy, and credibility. Deepfakes can be used to disseminate fake news or create a specific story, which may influence the public and lead to negative consequences. For instance, deepfakes have been deployed to emulate politicians, influence political campaigns, and scam people. One of the recent examples in India that received a lot of attention was the use of deepfake videos to portray a politician and spread fake news that affected people's opinions and EDITORIAL EXCLUSIVENAVIGATING THE ETHICAL CHALLENGES OF SYNTHETIC MEDIA & DEEPFAKES
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