Deepfakes Pose Growing Threat as Technology Advances

Experts warn of dangers as AI-generated fake media becomes more accessible and convincing

Published on Mar. 9, 2026

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As deepfake technology has rapidly advanced in recent years, experts are sounding the alarm about the growing threat it poses. The documentary "iHuman" highlights how the capability to generate highly realistic fake videos and audio has expanded significantly since the film was made in 2018-2019, with the technology now being widely accessible and requiring little technical expertise to use. This has enabled the creation of deepfakes for malicious purposes like disinformation, fraud, and non-consensual exploitation, undermining the public's ability to trust digital media.

Why it matters

The proliferation of deepfakes has serious implications for everything from elections and diplomacy to legal proceedings and personal privacy. The technology has already been weaponized against marginalized groups, and experts warn that without effective governance and mitigation strategies, the problem will only get worse, potentially leading to a 'fucked-up dystopia' where seeing can no longer be believing.

The details

The documentary features interviews with experts like Hao Li, CEO of Pinscreen Inc., who acknowledges that the face replacement technology his company develops with government and military funding can be used to manipulate videos and generate fake news, calling it 'very dangerous' if it 'gets into the wrong hands.' Psychologist Michal Kosinski also defends his controversial research on using facial recognition to predict personal attributes, arguing that privacy is now technologically impossible to maintain.

  • In 2018-2019, when the documentary 'iHuman' was filmed, deepfakes were still relatively primitive and confined to niche corners of the internet.
  • As of 2026, real-time deepfake video can be produced trivially, voice cloning requires only seconds of sample audio, and the tools are freely available with no technical expertise required.

The players

Hao Li

CEO of Pinscreen Inc., a company that develops face replacement technology funded by government, military, and intelligence agencies.

Michal Kosinski

A psychologist who has conducted controversial research on using facial recognition to predict personal attributes like sexual orientation and political views.

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What they’re saying

“Well, since 2012, when deep learning became, like, a big game changer in the computer vision community, we were one of the first to actually adopt deep learning and apply it in the field of computer graphics. A lot of our research is funded by government, military, intelligence agencies. The way we create these photo-real mappings, usually the way it works is that we need two subjects, a source and a target, and I can do a face replacement. One of the applications is for example, I want to manipulate someone's face, saying things that he did not. It can be used for creative things, for funny content, but obviously, it can also be used for just simply manipulate videos and generate fake news.”

— Hao Li, CEO, Pinscreen Inc. (iHuman)

“Of course, people should have rights to their privacy when it comes to sexual orientation or political views. But I'm also afriad that in the current technological environment, this is essentially impossible.”

— Michal Kosinski, Psychologist (iHuman)

What’s next

Lawmakers are facing increasing pressure to enact stronger regulations and enforcement mechanisms to address the deepfake threat, with a federal deadline looming in May 2026 for platforms to establish notice-and-takedown processes for victims.

The takeaway

The rapid advancement of deepfake technology has outpaced the ability of governments and societies to respond, posing serious risks to democracy, privacy, and truth itself. Urgent action is needed to develop effective mitigation strategies before the problem spirals further out of control.