CRII: SaTC: RUI: Understanding and Collectively Mitigating Harms from Deepfake Imagery

Swarthmore College, Swarthmore PA

Investigators

Abstract

This CRII research is taking an innovative approach to augment underserved communities’ cybersecurity and privacy. Although generative AI can support creative expression and boost worker productivity, it also enables the creation of seemingly-real images, video, and audio —known as deepfakes. Deepfakes are being used to silence, steal, extort, and defraud, manipulate stock prices and public opinion, and harm the reputation of people and organizations. These actions have a negative impact on national security, civic institutions, and people’s personal and professional lives. As generative AI technologies become increasingly sophisticated and accessible, anyone can create a deepfake with a single photo or audio clip. This research systematically documents how deepfakes harm underserved communities and devises novel, community-centric solutions to become more resilient to these harms. The project also supports the training of diverse students in advanced social computing and AI technologies to address urgent societal need. This research transcends individualistic approaches to security and privacy by applying concepts from social computing, usable security, and community-based participatory research, and it uses a mixed-methods approach to synthesize the potentially prosocial as well as antisocial applications of deepfakes, and their impact on people’s personal and private lives. The findings could inform government and technology policy that addresses the needs of underserved groups, and the design of responsible generative AI tools. The research team is collaborating closely with two underserved groups in the Philadelphia area, Black communities and Asian immigrant/diaspora communities, to build a scalable platform to encourage and support community-level cybersecurity practices. The site will also enable deployment and evaluation studies, advancing foundational knowledge about harm, trust, and security and privacy. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.