McAfee unveils project Mockingbird at CES 2024 to detect Deepfake audio

The rising use of deepfake in audio and video has left people scurrying for solutions that will help detect it. Global security solutions firm McAfee has announced its project Mockingbird, an AI-powered deepfake audio detection technology.

Unveiled at the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2024, McAfee Labs, the innovation and threat intelligence arm at McAfee, has developed an advanced AI model trained to detect AI-generated audio.

McAfee’s Project Mockingbird technology uses a combination of AI-powered contextual, behavioural, and categorical detection models to identify whether the audio in a video is likely AI-generated. With a 90 per cent accuracy rate currently, McAfee can detect and protect against AI content that has been created for malicious 'cheapfakes' or deepfakes.

When asked how this will be integrated into the currently available solutions, Steve Grobman, chief technology officer at McAfee, in an email response to Business Standard wrote, 'We are still developing and testing this technology, and reviewing the productisation of these features. We look forward to these AI-driven protections helping consumers feel even more confident online, with AI working for them. This is particularly important, as while generative AI has incredible potential for good, we’re seeing cybercriminals today use this powerful technology to cause significant financial and emotional harm.'

While McAfee did not comment on the availability of this in the Indian market, regarding pricing Grobman said, 'The current thinking is we will include them in McAfee+ at no added charge to end users.'

Grobman said that the use cases for this AI detection technology are far-ranging and will prove invaluable to consumers amidst a rise in AI-generated scams and disinformation. 'With McAfee’s deepfake audio detection capabilities, we’ll be putting the power of knowing what is real or fake directly into the hands of consumers. We’ll help consumers avoid "cheapfake" scams where a cloned celebrity is claiming a new limited-time giveaway, and also make sure consumers know instantaneously when watching a video about a presidential candidate, whether it’s real or AI-generated for malicious purposes. This takes protection in the age of AI to a whole new level,' continued Grobman.

The first public demos of Project Mockingbird, McAfee’s Deepfake Audio Detection technology, will be available onsite at the Consumer Electronics Show 2024.