This fake video of Barack Obama is being shared to make an important point

You may remember a few months ago when a very disturbing type of technology emerged on to the Internet called DeepFakes.

Videos were being shared which had been made using a special AI app called FakeApp, allowing users to superimpose the heads of female celebrities on to the bodies of porn actresses.

The non-consensual and explicit videos were frighteningly realistic, but were soon deleted from sites such as Reddit, Twitter, Pornhub and Gfycat.

However, the technology is still available and doesn't just have to be used for pornographic means. In fact, as a new video has proven, it can be used for more deceptive purposes.

A video produced by BuzzFeedsees movie director Jordan Peel imitate the former President using the app, creating something which is incredibly eerie and unsettling - especially in the era of fake news.

The video appears to begin in a similar vein to most Obama speeches. But when he begins to drop references to Black Panther and Get Out, as well as calling Donald Trump a "dips**t", you know that something isn't right.

That being said, if those lines weren't in the video and if the reveal at the end wasn't there, would we really be able to tell whether it was real or not?

BuzzFeed admits that the entire video took 56 hours to make and that video effects professionals also helped in the production.

So, although the technology isn't quite available to everyone just yet, there is still the real possibility that it could be developed, further thus making fake videos easier to make and more widespread.

However, there are ways to spot if you are watching a fake video, such as inspecting the movement of the mouth and facial features. You can also check its source and consider slowing down the speed of the video to see if there is anything odd about it.

In the past year, videos have emerged on YouTube of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin where their faces have been placed onto actors from Saturday Night Live.

Speaking to CBS, Mark Warner, the senator for the US state of Virginia, said that fake videos could become a powerful tool in the future political landscape:

The idea that someone could put another person's face on an individual's body, that would be like a home run for anyone who wants to interfere in a political process.

This is now going to be the new reality, surely by 2020, but potentially even as early as this year.

HT BuzzFeed

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