2023-11-20 05:13:59
On TikTok, it’s hard to miss this trend. Emmanuel Macron singing Alouette, the PNL rappers replaced by Eric Zemmour, Marine Le Pen swaying to Shakira’s song “Waka Waka”. With the progress of artificial intelligence, these humorous plots have flooded social networks in recent months. Content that has several million views.
Viral personalities on the networks
The common point between FrenchAICover et Fiasco on TikTok: they posted their first videos at the beginning of last summer. Success comes quickly, as their content enjoys great virality. One of the videographers behind the Fiasco page, who wishes to remain anonymous, discovered the power of AI through videos of Donald Trump and Joe Biden in the United States, with manipulated and misleading speeches. He is struck by the field of possibilities that opens up to him thanks to artificial intelligence.
As for Younès, behind the FrenchAICover page, the videos with rappers made in the United States pushed him to get involved. An IT developer, this Northerner closely follows the development of AI. He buys a microphone, a graphics card powerful enough for editing, and begins to create “voice models” as he says. His first successes: covers with the voices of rappers Booba and Rohff. Then a few weeks later, during August, he reproduced clips and added the corresponding faces to the voices. “It’s a new form of parody”confides the one who has immersed himself in internet culture. “There is a satirical side.” These videographers quickly note that Kylian Mbappé, but also Emmanuel Macron are personalities who generate a lot of views.
Voices that are easy to reproduce
The voice of artists and politicians is within the reach of the general public. Two (paid) sites provide access to a “voice bank”, Voicify.ai and Lalas.com. Other free ones offer synthesized voices. These content creators claim not to have a favorite target. They are simply looking for the gap between voice and image that will promise the success of their video. “We have a video, music, we see if it is usable, and we see which personality will best match with the AI. Putting Macron in is not a predefined choice”, specifies one of the two videographers of the Fiasco page, aged 25. According to him, “this allows us to present politics, a first step, by doing other research. We broaden certain worlds to the general public by using humor.”
Limit the excesses of artificial intelligence
All three are aware of the possible abuses of deepfakes. They are also calling for better supervision of this type of content. They are careful to make it clear that their content is generated by artificial intelligence, sometimes even directly on the video. “It has to be seen”, assures Younès. With his videos, he has the feeling “to educate Internet users on the subject of deepfakes, but it is without meaning to.” According to the developer, “people understand that it exists, that these are things that are possible, and that it can make videos very credible”. These humorous videos are a way of raising awareness regarding the possible abuses of AI-related technologies. They participate “to a culture of deepfake”believes Younès.
“Like any technology, it can be misused. We can easily fall into a video that wants to divert for political purposes.” The young man cites this fake video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyat the very beginning of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, where he calls on the Ukrainians to lay down their arms. “This scares me because the tools I use are regularly updated. If an individual like me is capable of using these tools, imagine in another case, where a person wants to try to create fake news…”
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