Although digital manipulation of images and video has been around for some time, the combination of software that improves the realism of the fake and the speed at which fakes can be generated and disseminated to targeted audiences has made headlines in the political sphere over the last year or so. The manipulation of video images using artificial intelligence has been called ‘deepfake’, a portmanteau of ‘deep learning’ and ‘fake’.

Although digital manipulation of images and video has been around for some time, the combination of software that improves the realism of the fake and the speed at which fakes can be generated and disseminated to targeted audiences has made headlines in the political sphere over the last year or so.  The manipulation of video images using artificial intelligence has been called ‘deepfake’, a portmanteau of ‘deep learning’ and ‘fake’.

Most new software for organisations these days is a ‘cloud service’.  While previously you bought a CD ROM that you popped in your computer and ran the program on that local computer, cloud software means that the program is running on a server somewhere else in the world and delivered to you via the Internet.