Infocalypse: How AI is overwhelming society with mis- and dis-information

If you thought of “dystopia” as a remote future possibility, political commentator Nina Schick — who describes herself as “half Nepalese, half German” — would like you to know that you are terribly mistaken. It is an integral part of our here and now since the environment we live in is nothing short of an “infocalypse”. She borrows this coinage from American technologist Aviv Ovadya, who used it in 2016 “to warn about how bad information was overwhelming society, and asking whether there is a critical threshold at which society will no longer be able to cope”.
 

Schick’s new book, Deep Fakes and the Infocalypse: What You Urgently Need to Know, will scare the living daylights out of you when you recognise how “polluted and dangerous” our information ecosystem has become, pointing to “a future in which all information is untrustworthy”. With a sense of despair and foreboding, she writes, “Artificial Intelligence (AI) is getting powerful enough to make people say things they never said and do things they never did. Anyone can be targeted, and everyone can deny everything.”
 

If this comes off as too dramatic, read her story about the con artistes, who stole over €50 million by posing as French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. How did they pull off this stunt? According to Schick, they got in touch with wealthy individuals such as the Aga Khan — the spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims — and Turkish business magnate Ynan Kyrac, through phone and video calls, asking them to fund “secret” French government missions.
 

While Schick agrees that “the tools were relatively low-tech” in this particular case, she wants you to be vigilant because the crisis of credibility is about to get worse with the proliferation of “deepfakes”. She defines them “as a type of ‘synthetic media’, meaning media (including images, audio and video) that are either manipulated or wholly generated by AI”. Though the technology itself can have positive applications, it is primarily employed as a weapon. Deepfakes are being used to ruin reputations, distort markets, fool voters, harass women who speak out, and sow seeds of hatred between communities.
 

Technological knowledge is a highly specialised domain but Schick breaks it down in a manner that is easy to process and understand. This is a sign of her effectiveness as a writer. Disinformation is “information that is meant to mislead”, she writes. It serves the interests of “bad actors — ranging from nation states to lone influencers”. On the other hand, misinformation is “simply bad information with no malicious intent behind it”.
 

AI can now scan the photos you have uploaded on Facebook and use them to create videos that place you in scenarios and situations that have never really happened. Schick writes, “If you have ever been recorded at any time in any form of audiovisual documentation, be that a photograph, a video or an audio recording, then you could theoretically be the victim of a deepfake fraud.” Deepfakes can be used to infiltrate online banking systems, impersonate family members and create pornography without consent.
 

If you think Schick is exaggerating, read the story of a 13-year-old German girl named Lisa, who was allegedly gang-raped by refugees in the country. This incident first came to light via Russian national television and got wider attention through social media. Schick writes, “It quickly went viral, eventually leading to protests outside the German Chancellory in Berlin, with demonstrators accusing the government of a cover-up. In reality, the story of Lisa was pure fabrication.”
 

The anti-refugee sentiment is quite strong in Europe, especially because it draws on the idea of a violent clash between civilisations often framed as Islam versus the Western world. White supremacists, neo-Nazis and assorted Islamophobes have been opposed to taking in asylum seekers fleeing persecution from West Asia and North Africa. The story of Lisa is a perfect opportunity for them to peddle the narrative that all Muslims are Islamists entering Europe to destroy Christianity, democracy and everything else they hold dear.
 

Schick wants you to know that deepfakes can be used to threaten personal liberty through coercion and blackmail, but the focus of her research is on bigger political games played by rogue states, terrorists and other kinds of criminals. Apart from “advising on the fallout generated from Russian election interference in the US (and around the world) since 2016”, she has also advised politicians such as Emmanuel Macron and Joe Biden as well as Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former NATO Secretary General.
 

She calls US President Donald Trump a lying machine, who has “contaminated American political discourse by actively spreading mis- and disinformation”. She reveals how Trump benefits from what is called the liar’s dividend. If he does not like what is being said about his administration, he labels it as fake news even if there is video evidence to back up claims. Schick feels that, as deepfakes become more commonplace, liars will have more plausible deniability. Twitter allows him to bypass traditional media gatekeepers and communicate directly with the world.
 

Does the author have any solutions to offer? The book contains an exhaustive list of resources on fact-checking and disinformation detection. She says, “Be careful about what information you share. Verify your sources. Correct yourself when you get something wrong. Be wary of your own political biases. Be sceptical, but not cynical.” This is valuable advice, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic that has become yet another opportunity to use disinformation as warfare not only against rival nations but also individual citizens.

Deep Fakes and the Infocalypse; Author: Nina Schick; Publisher: Monoray; Price: Rs 499; Pages: 224