How Will Deep Fakes Affect
Humanitarian Efforts?

New York City - November 21 - RSVP Now

New technologies such as deep learning have given rise to new ways of creating synthesized images, speech, music, and video. Positive uses of these new technologies include more accessibility through text-to-speech, and helping generate training data for medical imaging.

However as with any technology, new challenges have been born as well. “Deepfakes," are video forgeries that make people appear to do or say things they didn't. They use new technology to mash up identity, such as grafting the faces of celebrities (and everyday people) onto films they have not actually appeared in..

Governments are concerned that deepfake technology could be used to portray a world leader in a compromising scenario or saying something that they have not said, seeding discord and conflict.

What do deepfakes mean for development, humanitarian, and human rights organizations and how might they affect our work? How can we can work to address future scenarios where deepfakes are used in harmful and negative ways that affect democracy and governance or that specifically harm vulnerable groups? What role is there for media literacy and other efforts to help mitigate negative impacts of deepfakes?

Please RSVP now to join the next Technology Salon NYC where we’ll address questions like:

What are deep fakes? Who is most at risk of being ‘deep faked’?
Why are deep fakes a threat to individuals and wider society? What are some of the possible harms at the personal, organizational and society level of deep fakes?
What can be done to mitigate the potential harms and issues that deep fakes might cause? How can media literacy help? What technical fixes can help address the existence of deep fakes?
Can laws and legislation help to reduce the prevalence of deep fakes? Why or why not?
How can development organizations and humanitarian agencies address the impact of deep fakes on their own work, on vulnerable people, and on wider society?
What should funders be doing to mitigate risks and increase capacities to deal with a future that includes deep fakes?

Please RSVP now to join a lively discussion with the following thought leaders on Deep Fakes technology:

Sam Gregory, Program Director, WITNESS
Andrew Gully, Technical Research Manager, Jigsaw at Google
Tara Susman-Peña, Senior Technical Advisor, IREX

We'll have hot coffee and breakfast treats for a morning rush. Seating is limited so please RSVP now. Once we reach our 35-person capacity there will be a waiting list!

Deep Fakes
November Technology Salon
9:00-11:00am
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Open Society Foundation Offices
224 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019
RSVP is required for attendance

About the Technology Salon

The Technology Salon™ is an intimate, informal, and in person, discussion between information and communication technology experts and international development professionals, with a focus on both:

technology's impact on donor-sponsored technical assistance delivery, and
private enterprise driven economic development, facilitated by technology.

Our meetings are lively conversations, not boring presentations, and frank participation with ideas, opinions, and predictions is actively encouraged.

It's also a great opportunity to meet others motivated to employ technology to solve vexing development problems. Join us today!

How Will Deep Fakes Affect Humanitarian Efforts?

About the Technology Salon

How Will Deep Fakes Affect
Humanitarian Efforts?