Deepfake or cheapfake? Video of false accusations against Walz goes viral – Australian Associated Press

AAP FACTCHECK – Artificial intelligence experts agree that a video purporting to show an assault victim by US vice presidential candidate Tim Walz is fake, but their conflicting assessments of how it was produced reflect the growing sophistication of fake videos designed to spread disinformation.

The video which went viral on social media on various platforms including X, Instagram AND Facebookclaims to be Matthew Metro and a former student of the school where Tim Walz taught. A fake account on X called Matt Metro he also moved the video.

But the real Matthew Metro and the intelligence agencies are nowhere to be seen in the film they believe it is part of a Russian disinformation plot.

One of many similar ones posts claims: “Matthew Metro has come forward and formally accused Tim Walz of sexual assault while Walz was his teacher at Mankato West High School in 1997. This is disturbing.”

The four-minute video begins with a man claiming his name is Matthew Metro and that he is a “sexual assault survivor.”

He says he was a student of class Mankato West High School in Minnesota (34 seconds), that Tim Walz was his teacher (1:11) and claimed that Mr. Walz groped and kissed him (from 2:51).

Tim Walz was a teacher at Mankato West High and has been ever since widely reported.

But the man in the video is not Mr. Metro. Washington Post. he tracked down the real Matthew Metrowho stated that he actually attended the school, but the man in the video was not him.

He told the newspaper he never met Mr. Walzand this no such attack took place.

The real Mr. Metro was also interviewed Hawaii news nowin which his voice sounds completely different than on the fake recording.

AAP Fact Check I contacted Mr. Metro but did not receive a response within the deadline.

There are many other warning signs in the fake video. The voice appears regularly out of sync with the mouth, and speech often appears unnatural.

AAP Fact Check asked two experts to rate the film for signs of artificial intelligence.

Dr. Andrew Lensensenior lecturer in artificial intelligence at Victoria University of Wellington, said he believed the video was likely an artificial intelligence-based deepfake.

However, he said it was difficult to be sure given the low resolution of the video – although he said this is often a tactic used to disguise deepfakes, as the lower quality makes them harder to detect.

“For me, the biggest sign is the teeth, where the upper and lower tooth lines often ‘melt’ into frames before the ‘person’ closes their mouth,” Dr. Lensen said.

“There are also many pauses in the film where the camera suddenly appears to zoom out or zoom in from one frame to the next, especially between sentences/statements.

“While it is possible that the person in this story created the video from several pieces, it seems unusual that it was split in this way.

“Finally, the movements of the eyebrow, upper eyebrow, and even eyes when speaking seem strange – the eyebrows are sometimes raised, which does not match the speech.”

Professor Hany Farid from the University of California, Berkeley, an expert in digital forensics, disinformation and image analysis, assessed the video differently.

“Apart from biometric inconsistencies, I am not convinced that this video was generated or manipulated by artificial intelligence,” Professor Farid said AAP Fact Check.

He analyzed three aspects of the video using models trained to distinguish real human voices, faces and mouth movements from AI-generated or manipulated versions.

“The audio recording shows only minor evidence that it was generated by artificial intelligence, but not overwhelmingly so,” Professor Farid said.

“The face shows no evidence of being generated by artificial intelligence.

“And… I find no evidence of lip-syncing deepfakes.”

He added that “there are no typical signs that this is a fake video, such as inconsistencies between head movements and the spoken word.”

“I think it’s more likely to be a cheap fake where someone is just impersonating another person.”

After the video was widely distributed online, US intelligence agencies concluded that Russians trying to disrupt the US election had created and amplified a “fake video” that attempted to smear Walz with allegations of abuse. Washington Post..

One official said Russian agents tried to use videos in which people speak directly to the camera and popularize them on social media.

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