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Thami urges caution following deepfake video
Award-winning TV and radio host, Thami Ngubeni, has distanced herself from a deepfake video of her encouraging people to invest in a financial scheme.
The recording is doing the rounds on social media platform, Facebook.
In the video, the broadcaster, featuring South African-born tech billionaire Elon Musk and President Cyril Ramaphosa, is telling people about a platform where they can make a quick buck.
Deepfake is the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to alter a video or image of a person so that they appear to spread false information.
Ngubeni is not the first South African media personality to be dragged into this. Various others, including Morning Live’s Leeanne Manas, have previously been used.
The broadcaster says people must critically question information on social media to avoid falling victim to scams.
Speaking to YNews, Ngubeni urged Yires to be cautious, warning that with the festive season looming, scammers are already out on the prowl.
According to the global cybersecurity and digital privacy company, Kaspersky Business Digitization, companies need to do more to educate and protect their employees against such scammers.
A January 2024 survey by Kaspersky found that nearly eight in 10 people in the country cannot differentiate between a real picture and an AI image, while only 21% could.
Media Monitoring Africa says artificial intelligence needs to be regulated properly in order to prevent users from abusing it and possible fraud.
The research institute’s director, William Bird, says whoever created the video featuring Ngubeni is committing fraud, as unsuspecting people might believe it.
Like Ngubeni, Bird has also urged people to question everything they see online, raising concern over the usage of deepfake to spread misinformation.
He says such videos can lead to information chaos, where people can’t tell what’s real and what isn’t.
According to a 2023 report by Smart Security Solutions, this form of artificial intelligence, has created a gateway for fraudsters to thrive, as Mzansi shows a 1 200% increase in deepfake fraud. https://www.securitysa.com/21083r
Experts have highlighted the need for the government to put laws in place to not only protect people from criminals but also protect them from having their images used by scammers.
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