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Responsible AI & society

Deepfakes, scams, and synthetic media

Also called: voice cloning fraud, impersonation

DEFINITION

Synthetic images, audio, and video convincing enough to impersonate real people — used for fraud, non-consensual imagery, and disinformation.

WHY IT MATTERS

It breaks the old rule that seeing or hearing is believing. Everyday defences matter: verify through a second channel, agree on a code word with family, and slow down when a message creates urgency.

COMMONLY CONFUSED WITH

Obvious fakes. The dangerous ones aren't cartoonish; they're mundane — a familiar voice asking for a gift card, a video call that looks real enough.

SOURCES

First-pass citations, limited to primary sources; a reviewer will broaden and verify these before this entry leaves draft.