Zao, a Chinese artificial intelligence-powered app that allows users
to swap faces with actors and other celebrities in videos and GIF
images, has sparked serious privacy concerns due to how convincing the
transformation can be.
Uploaded to China’s iOS App Store last Friday, Zao became the number
one downloaded app on the platform in only two days and looking at what
it can do, it’s easy to see why. By using artificial intelligence, the
app is able to take a simple picture of the user and superimpose it on
to the face of any character in a video or GIF with truly breathtaking
results. For example, one user claims it only took them under 8 seconds
to swap faces with Leonardo DiCaprio and fulfil their dream of starring
in blockbusters like Titanic.
But with deepfake technology already becoming controversial due to
its potential to deceive millions of people by showing famous
individuals saying or doing something they never actually did, Zao has
sparked legitimate concerns. So far, deepfake technology wasn’t widely
available, but the Chinese app does face swapping so well and is so
easily available to the masses that many believe it could be a security
risk.
While most experts were worried about the privacy aspect of Zao,
claiming that the user agreement gave the developers global rights to
the collected biometric data and the free images created via the app
(provisions which have since been changed by the company), day to day
users were more freaked out about the potential for fraud.
Many Chinese people use Alipay’s Smile to Pay facial-recognition
system, which allows payment verification by the user looking into a
camera, and many feared the realistic transformation could cheat
Alipay’s algorithms. Some actually emailed Alibaba about it, and the
Chinese giant had to issue a statement clarifying that no matter how
realistic the face swap, there was no way a deepfake app could ever
trick their system.
Zao’s developers themselves came out to reassure users that the app
uses a still image for its deepfake videos and GIFs, and that face
swapping based on a single photo couldn’t hope to fool advanced face
recognition software.
Concerns about Zao and its advanced face-swapping magic were
expressed by Chinese state-run media as well, with some asking if it
could be used maliciously and even become “a threat to national
security”.
“Changing-face videos is fun but the potential security risks cannot be ignored,” one Chinese newspaper wrote.
One thing is for sure, Chinese AI technology is evolving at an astonishing pace. Just a few months, we featured those mind-blowingly realistic news anchors that were actually computer-generated programs.
