Competitive Intelligence, Deep Fake Technology, And Joe Biden On A Skateboard

As the internet and technology become more pervasive, deepfake technology is increasingly prevalent. This situation makes the job of competitive intelligence and OSINT professionals much harder. It’s becoming more difficult to distinguish between real and fake news. Deepfake combines AI with machine learning to produce realistic images and videos. But how can open source intelligence (OSINT) techniques and questioning detect it? This article title is Competitive intelligence deep fake technology, and Joe Biden on a skateboard.

Growing Problem

Deepfake technology is becoming increasingly popular. It’s generating an enormous amount of sophisticated content and making the most of the massive and ever-increasing amount of available biometric and AI data. Technological developments have increased the profile and capability of Deepfake technology. So the threat to knowing what’s real and what’s really going on is growing daily. And, of course, knowing what’s not going on. They are making OSINT and competitive intelligence professionals’ jobs harder. Here is a related article asking What Makes an Excellent Competitive Intelligence and OSINT Analyst?

Competitive Intelligence Deep Fake Technology It’s Still Down To Verification

It means competitive intelligence and OSINT teams can’t take content at face value. However, competitive intelligence professionals should already verify the pieces of insight they find, and it’s nothing new, and the video is now something else to verify. 

A video of the CEO of a competitor revealing a new product needs to be verified for a Deepfake “tell.” In intelligence, a “tell” indicates that someone’s true intentions or thoughts differ from what they seem to express. To gain an insight into someone’s motivations. Tells can come in many forms. Body language, behaviour patterns, verbal cues, and online activity are the most common. A sudden change in these could suggest a purpose. But to detect these, you need to know their usual way of doing things. The routine. However, it’s important to be cautious and not rely solely on tells. They can also sometimes be misleading or misinterpreted. It’s down to asking Do You Believe The Information Before You? 

Skateboard

Now a Deepfake of Joe Biden skateboarding down the white house steps is not the problem. And without going into a geopolitical angle, Deepfake technology can be weaponised. This could include:

• Manipulation of stocks and company profiles with fake news
• Impersonation of public-facing key employees
• Identity theft and impersonation for extortion, scams and fraud
• Manipulation of financial markets 
• An increase in the sophistication of campaigns using AI-generated identities for job applicants.
• Acquire insider information from IT infrastructure, divulge customer databases, and accumulate trade secrets. 

Determine A Deepfake

You dont need access to expensive forensic technology to counter Deepfake. Well, not yet, anyway! Use of critical thinking, observation, contextual analysis, and intuitive hypotheses generation to:

• Search for the person within a potentially deep fake online. Can you see a similar image video of them that’s already been published?
• Do they appear on more than one website? Can you verify those websites?
• Look at their physical mannerisms. Do they match what you know is true? Are they consistent?
• What about their eye movement? Is there anything unnatural or different to how they used to look?
• Are their movements consistent with what’s happening in the video?
• Do their eyes reflect a light source? Does it change during the video?
• Does anything look wrong with their appearance? Their teeth, edges of the eyes and mouth?
• What about the level of detail in the surrounding environment?
• Are their mouth movements, jaw movements and facial muscles natural?
• Does it look real around the ear and mandible?
• Are there any inconsistencies between head posture and facial expressions?

Of course, ask why they or another party would want to create a deep fake. Ask questions like:

• What would the purpose be? 
• What is the benefit to them of doing this?
• What do they want you to believe?
• What are they expecting you to do?
• What should we do about it?

Competitive Intelligence Deep Fake Technology, And Joe Biden On A Skateboard

In conclusion, deep fake technology is a powerful tool to challenge perceptions. It can generate content with minimal resources quickly. But its misuse can potentially mislead viewers into unethical practices. To counter this, we must develop reliable methods of detecting deepfakes. Additionally, organisations must ensure their competitive intelligence professionals know how deep fakes work. And how to identify them to protect their business from misinformation and malicious intent.

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Competitive intelligence is the finding & critical analysis of information to make sense of what’s happening & why. Predict what’s going to happen & give the options to control the outcome. The insight to create more certainty & competitive advantage.

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