Special Team Helps Amnesty Identify ‘Deepfake’ Videos

 

 

Human rights groups have long depended on pictures and video as evidence during investigations². Images help confirm reports of abuse that cannot be proved through other methods.

Amnesty International is one of the world’s largest human rights organizations. It carries out investigations across the world in an effort to identify human rights abuses. The investigations seek to inform the public and influence governments to take action to protect human rights.

Amnesty often uses video or photos in its evidence collection process. In many cases, this material comes from social media services.

Earlier this year, Amnesty launched an investigation¹ into police abuses against Russian protesters. The research methods included collecting and verifying videos posted on social media from across Russia since 2012.

Denis Krivosheyev is deputy director of Amnesty's Eastern Europe and Central Asia department. He spoke³ to the RFE/RL news organization. He said images posted on social media can greatly strengthen human rights investigations if they can be confirmed as true.

The problem, Krivosheyev says, is that images found on the Internet can be misrepresented for propaganda purposes. They can also be changed in an attempt to play a trick on the public.

There is an increasing number of tools people can use to create false photos and video. Some of these tools have been used to make videos known as “deepfakes.” A deepfake video is one that looks real, but was electronically changed. Such videos can make people appear to say or do things that never actually happened.

The name deepfake comes from the process of deep learning, a form of artificial intelligence, or AI. Deepfake videos can be created with computer programs available for sale or on the internet. The technology uses face mapping and AI to produce false video images that look very real.

To help fight this problem, Amnesty created a special team to identify and verify photos and video found on the internet. The team is called the Digital Verification Corps⁴. The group includes about 100 student volunteers from six universities around the world.

The team is trained to use the latest technology tools and methods to discover false videos and pictures. In some cases, images might not have been falsified, but did not happen at the time and place that is claimed.

Krivosheyev says the flood of videos and photos being shared on social media has been a complete “game changer" for human rights investigations.

"There is a major difference in the level of confidence with which we can speak about things as 'fact,' as opposed to 'allegations,’” he said.

He added that Amnesty has discovered photographic and video evidence to document many different human rights violations⁵. These have included incidents of people being denied the right to demonstrate, as well as severe cases of torture.

Krivosheyev says this is why the Digital Verification Corps is so important to the organization’s work. The team can examine every piece of information Amnesty finds or is given.

"We must be able to speak confidently about things that happened as facts rather than merely quoting reports, some of which are not entirely⁶ accurate."

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

verify – v. to prove something is true, or do something to discover if it is true

artificial intelligence – n. ability of a machine to use and analyze⁷ data in an attempt to reproduce human behavior

confidence – n. feeling or belief that you can do something well or succeed at something?

allegation – n. statement that someone has done something wrong or illegal without actual proof that it is true

quote – v. to repeat what someone has said or written

entirely – adj. fully⁸ or complete

accurate – adj. true or correct

1 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

2 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

5 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

6 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

7 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

8 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。