Fake Robot Mark Zuckerberg Is More Likable Than The Real One
Instagram would be foolish to take down this charismatic portrayal of their robot master.
This week, the world saw a deepfake video of Mark Zuckerberg on Instagram. The video resurrected the age-old internet joke: How can you tell the difference between Zuckerberg and a piece of software? And the video has finally given us a definitive answer: The software is more likable.
The deepfake, which is only about 16 seconds long, manipulates an old CBS interview of Zuckerberg into giving a supervillain-like speech about Facebook's sinister data mining and attributing its success to "Spectre." Spectre is a British art installation (and not-so-subtle James Bond reference) by Bill Posters and Daniel Howe that explores the modern-day exploitation of social media by the powers that be. This includes not just a deepfake of Zuckerberg, but also ones of Kim Kardashian and Donald Trump. If the goal is to make fake people spout convincing crazy talk, it's definitely playing the game on Easy Mode.
The video was a clear challenge to Instagram (which is owned by Facebook) to see if they would take it down and be exposed as hypocrites, since they refused to so with the clearly doctored Drunk Nancy Pelosi video from this past May. But for now, Facebook is sticking to its guns of not caring if "information you post on Facebook must be true," much to the relief of the site's biggest demographic, which we're guessing is anti-vaxxer dog moms nowadays.
Facebook could catch an undeserved break here, as CBS is demanding to take down the video featuring its trademark logo. But they'd be fools not to hang on to this deepfake, as it's honestly the most charismatic their CEO has ever been. He usually looks and acts like an AI trapped in the stretched-out body of a haunted orphan. Deepfake Zuckerberg sounds confident, his face is somehow more emotive, he even makes a solid pop culture reference. Compare that to his Voight-Kampff-failing performance in front of Congress, or his inability to eat a piece of toast like any warm-blooded mammal. This could convince Zuckerberg to finally give up and just use deepfakes to continue his million-dollar campaign to convince people he's actually human.
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