AI Literacy / Glossary

Deepfake

A deepfake is an image, video or audio recording made or changed with AI so that it looks or sounds like a real person saying or doing something they never said or did.

Deepfakes can be harmless, like a face-swap joke or a dubbed film. They can also be used to spread lies, impersonate a boss or relative in a scam, influence elections or hurt someone with fake intimate images.

Visual clues such as odd hands, mismatched lighting or strange blinking are becoming less reliable as tools improve. Better checks are the context: who posted it first, whether trusted news reports it, and whether a reverse image search finds the original.

If a video or call asks you to act fast, send money or share something, pause and verify through another channel you already trust. Report harmful deepfakes on the platform and, where a crime is involved, to the police.