True or false? In Washington, the president of the United States and the prime minister of Italy jointly express scepticism about non-European migration to the West and decide to set up an action taskforce on the issue.
Four million Bengali-speaking Muslim residents of the northeastern Indian state of Assam are asked to prove their right to live in the country or be deported.
In China, the visiting British foreign secretary describes his Chinese wife as “Japanese”.
And an Asian country declares it will lob nuclear missiles at its richer neighbour.
Just two of those statements are true; the first and last are not. Although Donald Trump and Italy’s Giuseppe Conte did meet in the White House on Monday and discussed the challenges posed by illegal immigration, they didn’t publicly call for a taskforce on the non-European influx. But soon enough, there could be video and audio of Mr Trump and Mr Conte saying exactly that.
It’s all because of deepfake technology, which can use artificial intelligence to create video and audio of real people doing and saying things they never did or said.
With machines using something called deep learning to copy a person's voice, speech patterns and facial expressions accurately, deepfake videos and audios could become powerful tools of public disinformation. They could trigger social unrest, political controversy, international tensions and could even lead to war.
They will make it difficult to separate truth from lies or something that really happened from what appeared to have happened. Considering the technology to distinguish between genuine and fake is at least a year away, the potential for societal dissonance is huge.
That’s what the experts gloomily predict. This month American law professors Bobby Chesney and Danielle Citron delivered a paper at a Washington think tank, warning of the looming dangers of “robust” and “persuasive” deepfakes in the hands of unscrupulous actors.
As the technology diffuses and democratises, they said, deepfakes can create so-called information cascades or a cycle of sharing and forwarding content that acquires unstoppable force and momentum. “One need only imagine a fake video depicting an American soldier murdering an innocent civilian in an Afghan village,” the professors said.
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Read more from Rashmee Roshan Lall:
A dark narrative of violence runs alongside the shining India story
The commodification of global military protection could be cataclysmic
Trump should know corporate patriotism is neither natural nor desirable
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But deepfakes can have ramifications in private life too – in the workplace, matters of the heart, family relationships and small businesses. Armed with a deepfake, rivals can deal knockout blows to each other, imperilling reputation, good standing and probity.
The implications for law enforcement are dire. When Lyrebird, a Montreal-based AI start-up, revealed its voice imitation algorithm last year, it acknowledged “voice recordings are currently considered as strong pieces of evidence in our societies and in particular in jurisdictions of many countries”.
The implications could be profound when technology allows the construction of reality – an alternate reality – backed up by images, video and audio that purport to be true.
It could not only change how we respond to the present and prepare for the future, but create false memories of the past, according to American academic Elizabeth Loftus, who did pioneering research into false memory formation. Deepfakes could literally be hard for people to get out of their minds, she says.
Until there is a technological fix – trusted digital content comes with a foolproof internal certification – there are few real legal or regulatory remedies. Suing content creators and platforms that carry deepfakes, prosecution and penalties cannot really be a solution.
So what happens when audio and video can be manufactured at will and can no longer be trusted without question? It’s probably the point in society where technology forces us to hit the reset button. Face-to-face interactions, live attendance at political rallies, the evidence of one’s own eyes and ears will count but not video or audio circulating on news media or social platforms.
That will be a blessing, not a curse.
The only way to counteract the threat of deepfakes is for media, other organisations and private individuals to accept only the evidence of their own direct experience or authoritative proven sources. On one level, we will have to return to relying on a small number of trusted sources that can vouch for having heard or seen something themselves.
This recalibration of our attitude to what we see and hear will be necessary because deepfakes go way beyond the mere distortion of reality. The situation will be vastly different to the great hoaxes of history, such as the 1835 New York newspaper series about the discovery of life on the moon.
It’s also not quite the half-truths or even outright falsities peddled by tabloids and gossip websites but something far more insidious than that.
In the age of deepfakes, all we can really do is to remake our attitude to digitised portrayals of any sort. If we manage that, deepfakes would have unwittingly served an excellent purpose. They would restore trust in our networked world.
Infobox
Western Region Asia Cup Qualifier, Al Amerat, Oman
The two finalists advance to the next stage of qualifying, in Malaysia in August
Results
UAE beat Iran by 10 wickets
Kuwait beat Saudi Arabia by eight wickets
Oman beat Bahrain by nine wickets
Qatar beat Maldives by 106 runs
Monday fixtures
UAE v Kuwait, Iran v Saudi Arabia, Oman v Qatar, Maldives v Bahrain
Read more about the coronavirus
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The Equaliser 2
Director Antoine Fuqua
Starring: Denzel Washington, Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo, Ashton Sanders
Three stars
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Dr Amal Khalid Alias revealed a recent case of a woman with daughters, who specifically wanted a boy.
A semen analysis of the father showed abnormal sperm so the couple required IVF.
Out of 21 eggs collected, six were unused leaving 15 suitable for IVF.
A specific procedure was used, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection where a single sperm cell is inserted into the egg.
On day three of the process, 14 embryos were biopsied for gender selection.
The next day, a pre-implantation genetic report revealed four normal male embryos, three female and seven abnormal samples.
Day five of the treatment saw two male embryos transferred to the patient.
The woman recorded a positive pregnancy test two weeks later.
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The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
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Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
The biog
Favourite car: Ferrari
Likes the colour: Black
Best movie: Avatar
Academic qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in media production from the Higher Colleges of Technology and diploma in production from the New York Film Academy
What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
Review: Tomb Raider
Dir: Roar Uthaug
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Daniel Wu, Walter Goggins
two stars
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
Why your domicile status is important
Your UK residence status is assessed using the statutory residence test. While your residence status – ie where you live - is assessed every year, your domicile status is assessed over your lifetime.
Your domicile of origin generally comes from your parents and if your parents were not married, then it is decided by your father. Your domicile is generally the country your father considered his permanent home when you were born.
UK residents who have their permanent home ("domicile") outside the UK may not have to pay UK tax on foreign income. For example, they do not pay tax on foreign income or gains if they are less than £2,000 in the tax year and do not transfer that gain to a UK bank account.
A UK-domiciled person, however, is liable for UK tax on their worldwide income and gains when they are resident in the UK.
