Untrained participants can distinguish a real image of a fake in less than half of the cases,
For the study, the authors selected 400 real photographs and 400 images created by a neural network.In each set, women and men of different races and ages were represented in equal proportions.
Participants in the experiment were shown 128 randomlyselected photos and asked to determine whether it is real or fake. On average, the subjects answered correctly in 48.2% of cases. At the same time, the number of errors in the classification of photographs of white men was greater than in the analysis of photographs of women or representatives of other races. According to the authors, the reason is that more images of white men are available for AI machine learning, which means that the quality of the fake is increasing.
The second group of study participantspre-training in computer generated face recognition. They were shown examples of traces of image processing that could indicate a fake. In addition, after each response, participants were told whether they had classified the image correctly. In this case, the quality of recognition of fake photos increased, but only up to 59%.
The researchers also asked a separate group of223 participants rated on a scale of 1 to 7 how trustworthy they thought the people in the images were. The average level of trust in real people was 4.48, and in fake people - 4.82. The difference of 8%, according to the researchers, exceeds the margin of error and is significant. Interestingly, three of the four most trusted people were fakes, while all four of the least trusted were real.
"We find that artificially created facesinspire more confidence than real ones, the authors of the study write. “This is most likely due to the fact that the synthesized faces are more similar to the average, which, as has been proven earlier, is considered more reliable.”
Synthesis of sound, image and video withusing AI has made Hollywood-level special effects widely available. Synthesized speech, fictitious images and replacing one person with another are no longer just entertainment, but also an opportunity for fraud and deception. “Easy access to such high-quality fake images will lead to a variety of problems, including, for example, more convincing fake profiles on social networks, fraud and disinformation campaigns, with serious consequences for individuals and society as a whole,” the scientists note.
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