Deepfakes—AI-altered images, video, or audio, often used to impersonate real people—have become commonplace in recent years. In 2023, a Hong Kong employee of a multinational company transferred $25 million to fraudsters’ bank accounts after they used the technology to pose as the company’s chief financial officer on a video call. And during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a fake video of President Zelenskyy surfaced, showing him urging Ukrainian soldiers to surrender. Meanwhile, phony but convincing videos of public figures, from the Pope to Tom Cruise, are flooding the internet. 

President Trump signed legislation in May aimed at fighting some of the worst abuses, but critics say it is too vague and could be used to justify censorship. UC Berkeley professor Hany Farid, one of the world’s leading experts on digitally manipulated images, joins us to talk about the threat of deepfakes . . . and how AI is now being used to detect them.