During its Presidency of the United Nations Security Council in October, the Swiss Confederation and EPFL, in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), are presenting Deepfake and You, an exhibition which will run at the UN Headquarters from 15 to 25 October.
Deepfake and You is a real-time multimedia experience designed to raise awareness of the real-life social, political, and humanitarian consequences of manipulated information. This immersive project, for diplomats and the UN community in New York, is based on a technological solution developed by EPFL that revolves around an interactive experience. During the experience, participants will face their likeness being used to create a deepfake in a scenario developed under the supervision of the ICRC. The experience consists of a walk-through, maze-style installation, with screens and information on the walls.
Building sustainable peace and protecting civilians in armed conflicts are priorities for Switzerland as an elected member of the UN Security Council. To achieve these objectives, it is crucial to take action against misinformation, disinformation and hate speech. This exhibition aims to raise awareness about these risks, with a focus on deepfake technology.
“Today’s exhibition serves both as a warning and a call to action”, declared Ambassador Pascale Baeriswyl, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the UN at the opening on Monday. “It is designed to open our eyes to the ease with which truth and facts can be distorted, but also to show that solutions are within our reach. There are many ways to counter the spread and impact of deepfakes and disinformation: raising awareness, promoting accurate facts and developing algorithms which can detect and watermark deepfakes are only some among them. To be effective, these responses must be rooted in law and supported by strong ethical frameworks and international cooperation.”
At EPFL, a number of technical solutions are being developed to combat deepfakes. Peter Grönquist, researcher in the Image and Visual Representation Lab (IVRL) and technical director of the exhibition, won two international challenges on deepfake detection and hate-meme detection. The Lab, led by Prof. Sabine Süsstrunk focuses on the capture, analysis, and reproduction of color images and is active in deepfake detection. The computer science professor explains: “It’s a game of cat and mouse. The techniques for creating fake content evolve; the means of detecting them adapt, which triggers new ways of going under the radar, and the cycle repeats itself ad infinitum”. The institution is also exploring issues relating to digital trust and is counting on two centers for this: The Center for Digital Trust and the AI Center.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a neutral, impartial and independent organization with an exclusively humanitarian mandate that stems from the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It helps people around the world affected by armed conflict and other violence, doing everything it can to protect their lives and dignity and to relieve their suffering, often alongside its Red Cross and Red Crescent partners.
More information: https://www.aplusforpeace.ch/are-you-really-who-you-think-you-are-deepfakes-exhibition-opens-un-headquarters