Macron's deepfakes raise questions over AI use
2025-02-10
Category: news

French President Emmanuel Macron has used AI-generated deepfake videos to publicise the start of the AI Action Summit taking place in Paris. In a video posted on his social media accounts, Macron reacts to a montage of deepfaked videos of himself in popular films and TV series by saying "nicely done".Videos of Macron inserted into popular media, using AI, have been circulating on French social media for the past few months. In October, he told Variety that deepfakes "can be a form of harassment" for some people.Some experts have questioned the use of the deepfakes, saying normalising them makes it harder to spot fake news.
The montage of deepfakes, which has been seen millions of times across the president's Instagram, X and TikTok accounts, shows him inserted into a 1980s euro disco hit, an influencer's hair tutorial and the action hero TV show MacGyver. Videos such as these have been popular of French social media for a while, so this is Macron acknowledging that he has become a meme among some social media circles. Then the real Macron says: "It's pretty well done, it made me laugh.""But more seriously, with artificial intelligence, we can do some very big things: change healthcare, energy, life in our society," the 47-year-old president said. He adds: "France and Europe must be at the heart of this revolution to seize every opportunity and also to promote our own principles."The video was posted ahead of a two-day global AI summit starting in Paris on Monday.The aim of the summit is to unite world leaders, tech executives, and academics to examine AI's impact on society, governance, and the environment.
"President Macron's deepfake might seem like harmless fun to promote the AI Summit in Paris, but it is not in general a good thing," says Paul McKay, principal analyst at technology consultancy Forrester. "Normalising deepfakes in this way should not be encouraged as it continues the difficulty with telling what is real and what isn't, and is ultimately helping to establish what is fact from fiction."Dr Richard Whittle from Salford Business School also warns of the risk of "normalising" deepfakes videos, "both on social media and by scammers". He adds: "It is great to bring attention to this threat, but doing it in a way that shows how easy it is to create deepfakes risks their wider adoption."Prof Philip Howard, president of the International Panel on the Information Environment, says AI is increasingly being used "in innovative, sometimes playful ways, as demonstrated by President Macron's recent video."  But he adds: "These kinds of videos are often released when the guidelines on public communication are not clear." There has been some debate in the French media over whether Macron should be trivialising deepfake videos when they can be used for harm.In October, Macron told Variety deepfakes "can disinform, which can upset our democracies".He said they should be regulated "by imposing responsibility on the people who disseminate this content to moderate it".The EU's newly implemented AI Act, which regulates the use of artificial intelligence, has faced criticism at the Summit for stifling innovation.The bloc also unveiled plans for a Europe-wide, open source AI model with a budget of €37.4m (£31.1m).A global declaration of shared AI goals and ethical responsibilities is due to be revealed at the end of the Summit tomorrow.So far the US and the UK have both declined to say whether they will sign it.