What Is Deepfake Technology? Understanding Its Broad Impact

By Dr. Matthew Loux and Bryce Loux  |  09/11/2025

Imagine seeing a video of a famous political figure announcing a war on your mobile phone. But later, you learn that it's not an original video, but an AI-generated video created with deepfake technology, artificial intelligence (AI) tools, and machine learning.

Deepfake technology has many potential creative uses, but it also has serious risks. As a result, it is crucial to know the ins and outs of the technology to understand its implications on both personal and social levels.

The use of deepfakes can create serious ethical issues, but they also have the power to revolutionize the way we entertain and educate ourselves.

What Is Deepfake Technology?

According to cybersecurity company Fortinet, deepfake technology cancan be defined as the synthesis of images, videos, and audio through the use of deep neural networks.

Deep learning algorithms generate and mimic the images, audio files, or video clips of real people. Sometimes, the replication of real people is so convincing that discerning authenticity is hard.

Impersonations and face swapping are examples of deepfake technology. Deepfake technology started appearing in the entertainment world, but the scope of its use has changed to various sectors, some useful and some very dangerous.

The Deepfake Creation Process

The creation of deepfakes starts with machine learning and algorithms. The creation process follows three major steps:

1. Data collection – In order to create a convincing deepfake, a lot of raw data is needed. For instance, deepfake creation needs a person's face, that person's voice, and videos. Facial features, facial expressions, and vocal tones are also important to creating convincing content.
2. Training AI models – Data is processed and used for the training of deep learning algorithms, such as generative adversarial networks (GANs) or autoencoders. GANs have two neural networks. One creates fake content such as audio deepfakes or deepfake videos, and the other evaluates the content and gives feedback until the content is practically the same as the original source.
3. Post-processing – After the deepfake is created, its editors align the audio with facial expressions and lip movement. They also elevate video quality, smoothing out frame transitions. This step completes the refining process and increases believability.

Deepfakes are especially worrying because deepfake tools can be accessed with ease. Free applications and even open-source programs allow for the creation of sophisticated deepfakes with minimal training for professionals.

Positive Uses of Deepfake Technology

Regardless of the dangers, deepfake technology has several legitimate, positive uses:

• Entertainment and media – Deepfakes are increasingly being leveraged by filmmakers to digitally age actors and resurrect deceased actors. Deepfake technology is also useful for dubbing movies in other languages, since it permits greater accuracy in syncing dialogue and facial expressions.
• Education and accessibility – Deepfake technology such as machine learning techniques and natural language processing can improve student learning by recreating historical figures, using avatars to teach foreign languages, or bringing science experiments to life. They can also help people with disabilities to communicate with AI-generated speech and avatar models.

Educators and academic institutions, however, must formulate policies and ensure the proper ethics to protect students. There is a need for policies and disclosures to be put in place to protect students.

Negative Uses of Deepfakes

The use of deepfake techniques brings up serious ethical and social risks:

• Misinformation and political manipulation – With the aid of artificial intelligence, malicious deepfake creators can create content that can impersonate public figures, which aids in spreading false information or meddling in elections. An example would be a deepfake video of a world leader or other elected official saying something provocative, which could create confusion and lead to politically-based violence, hate speech, or war.
• Damaging personal and social reputation – Deepfake creators have targeted individuals with deepfake pornography images or pornographic videos. Criminals have also created deepfake audio or fake news stories to manipulate public opinion. As a result, their victims have suffered damage to their public and personal reputations, as well as their careers and social media platforms.
• Fraud and cybersecurity – Cybercriminals have used voice and video deepfakes to impersonate CEOs and trick employees into transferring a large amount of funds.

Legal and Ethical Considerations to Combat Deepfakes

Businesses now need to consider the impact of deepfake technology on their brands and reputations. This technology could be potentially used by cybercriminals to:

• Disrupt everyday business activities
• Gain unauthorized access to funds or proprietary data
• Commit fraud
• Spread disinformation about the company with the aid of deepfake applications

Organizations must take measures to address deepfakes and protect themselves when they discover deepfake content such as fake images or fake videos. They must develop deepfake detection technological solutions, establish communication verification procedures, technological solutions, and teach their employees how to spot deepfakes.

Various societies are still adapting to the technology of deepfakes. There are different legal frameworks that have gaps concerning the production and dissemination of deepfakes, especially regarding defamation and election fraud.

Legal progress is being made, however. President Donald Trump signed the “TAKE IT DOWN Act” to protect the victims of AI-made content. The European Union’s AI Act also addresses the need for regulation on AI content and transparency.

Although deepfake criminals might claim the right to free speech when creating deepfake photos or other content, it is still necessary to protect individuals and societies from harm. Social media and tech companies should provide funding for detection methods and create policies that govern the marking and deleting of edited material.

Psychological and Cultural Effects of Deepfake Scams

Apart from legal, corporate, and educational concerns, deepfakes pose potential psychological and cultural problems. From a psychological perspective, deepfake videos and other artificial content may generate or reinforce:

• Anxiety
• Confusion
• Paranoia
• Conspiracy theories
• Distrust of the government or media sites
• Reality fatigue
• Emotional burnout and critical thinking

With constant exposure to deepfakes, it becomes easier for people to ignore important information, spread dangerous lies, and manipulate the truth. Deepfakes could change how we interact with each other. They could also affect our storytelling, politics, and memory.

Imagine a future where someone uses artificial intelligence to rewrite history or “resurrects” a public figure to perform after death. Deepfake technology leads to important concerns about:

• Consent
• Authenticity
• The commercialization of digital images

Society should not only think of the technical and legal consequences of deepfakes, but also the emotional, psychological, and cultural changes that are likely to happen in the future.

Deepfake Detection and Solutions

The more complex deepfakes get, the better the detection tools need to be. Companies are working on software that utilizes AI to capture and mark common signs of video manipulation, such as the failure of eyes to blink or inconsistencies in lighting.

Global collaboration, especially in regard to strengthening existing laws, is becoming essential. Governments, technology companies, universities, and even non-profit organizations are working together to share resources and knowledge.

For example, Meta® and other companies created an online site known as the Deepfake Detection Challenge Dataset. Other tech companies and universities are using crowdsourcing to solve the problem of identifying artificial content through detection software.

In the same way, the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) Coalition is working on establishing media authentication standards. These standards could become the digital equivalent of a chain of custody.

Public education is also important. Empowering citizens to detect deepfakes, check for authenticity, and use critical thinking to combat sensational narratives can mitigate the spread of deepfakes.

Upcoming Trends in Deepfake Technology

In the foreseeable future, deepfake technology is likely to advance at an even greater pace thanks to advances in AI technologies. New tools have already appeared in virtual reality, customer support, and education. Unfortunately, new ways of deception, manipulation, or exploitation are also emerging.

Our future hinges on responsible deepfake development, effective regulation, and public awareness. With advances in virtual communication, the risks to trustworthiness are greater.

The trust in deepfake technology hinges on industries’ exaggerating reality, which is an increasingly uncertain trust. Digital literacy is on the rise and being able to use deepfake technology responsibly is a new need that has not been completely evaluated yet.

The B.S. in Information Technology at AMU

For adult learners interested in studying information technology and the various uses of artificial intelligence, American Military University (AMU) provides an online Bachelor of Science in Information Technology. For this degree program, students will take courses covering topics such as database concepts, human relations communication, and web development fundamentals. Students can also choose from courses that cover:

• Cybersecurity, surveillance, privacy, and ethics
• Analytics, algorithms, AI, and humanity

This bachelor’s degree program offers four concentrations to enable adult learners to choose the courses best suited to their professional goals:

• General
• Project Management
• Programming
• Programming Full Stack/Python® Visualization

For more information about this degree program, visit AMU’s information technology degree program page.

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