WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

DeepFakes and synthetic content will continue to redefine how we make content and the tools we use to make it.

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Wherever you look at the moment it seems increasingly difficult to avoid fake, or digital humans, DeepFakes, virtual influencers, and virtual this or virtual that – that’s probably because we’re witnessing the birth and rise of a new megatrend.

Now, jumping on the synthetic content, or fake content, bandwagon the creators of South Park have announced they’ve launched a weekly satire series called Sassy Justice that uses DeepFake tech – check it out below.

Matt Stone and Trey Parker joined forces with Peter Serafinowicz (Guardians Of The Galaxy, Shaun Of The Dead) for the new project.

Its first instalment just landed on YouTube and features deepfakes of Donald and Ivanka Trump, the president’s senior advisor Jared Kushner, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and Michael Caine. And whereas back in the 1980’s satirists would have used badly constructed puppets to mimic famous people now new tech lets them be the famous person IRL instead, which is just another example of how quickly technology has evolved in a short space of time.

“Fred Sassy is an American Consumer Advocate and reporter for the Cheyenne news at 9, a local TV station in Cheyenne, Wyoming,” an official description reads. “On his weekly show, Sassy Justice, Fred goes to battle for the common man in his hometown.

“This week, he’s uncovering the dangers behind manipulated videos that are increasingly popping up on the internet.”

Deepfakes, like this one of Elon Musk that was used to bomb a Zoom call a while ago, make use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) software to combine and superimpose existing images and videos of a person to make it appear that they’ve said or done something they have not.

“The times they are a-changing,” a voiceover states at the start of the 15-minute episode. “Scammers are finding new ways to take advantage of you, the consumer. Now, with a technology called deep fake, you can get screwed over and lied to in ways never before possible.”

One viewer in the comments section wrote: “So this is what Matt Stone and Trey Parker have been up to this year.”

Another added: “This is how you do satire in 2020.” And this is just the beginning …