About the project
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made it easier than ever to create convincing fake videos known as deepfakes. Deepfakes can mislead voters and pose a threat to democratic processes in Australia. Political deepfakes are a growing threat to electoral integrity and if left unchallenged could have profound impacts on Australian electoral outcomes and political processes.
Why this research matters
This project addresses an urgent need to determine who is most vulnerable to deepfakes, and what can be done to reduce their impact. It will examine the demographic, cognitive, emotional and relational factors that increase susceptibility to deception and how these factors relate to three key behaviours:
- Sharing deepfakes
- Reporting suspected deepfakes
- Fact-checking of information
Expected outcomes
Our outcomes include empirically validated advances in relevant theories as well as methodologies to inform new approaches to disrupt mass spreading of political disinformation and better protect communities most at risk.
Contacts
Project Lead
Associate Professor Renee Barnes
A journalist of more than fifteen years, Renee has worked for numerous media organisations including the ABC, The Age and Australian Associated Press. Renee's passion is online journalism and her research and teaching focus is on this field.
Email: [email protected]
Chief Investigators
Rory Mulcahy is an Associate Professor at UniSC the School of Business and Creative Industries. His research focuses on topics such as consumer vulnerability, emotions, technology, and sustainability.
Email: [email protected]
Dr Aimee Riedel
Dr Aimee Riedel is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Griffith University. Dr Riedel is passionate about finding innovative service solutions, often using digital technologies, for consumers who are experiencing vulnerabilities.
Email: [email protected]
Dr Lucas Whittaker
Dr Lucas Whittaker is a Lecturer in Marketing in the Department of Management and Marketing at Swinburne University of Technology. His research explores the implications of deepfakes and Generative AI as an emerging innovations for marketing communication and how individuals appraise uses of such technologies in persuasive contexts.
Email: [email protected]
Project Manager
Dr Inez Mahony
Project email: [email protected]
The project
This flowchart presents project aims, followed by research approach and outcomes to examine, read from top to bottom.
Identify
Individuals most susceptible to political deepfake videos
Understand
Patterns and reasons behind the sharing of political deepfakes and pro social behaviours
Surveys and critical incident analysis
Identify characteristics that increase susceptibility and sharing of deepfake videos
Biosensors and digital tracking
Examine cognitive and emotional reactions to deepfakes in real time
Behavioural observation
Observe real world interactions with political deepfakes
Sharing
How deepfakes are spread among communities
Reporting
Instances of flagging or reporting deepfakes
Fact checking
Patterns of fact checking and verifying video content
Scholarships available
Are you interested in a PhD in the field of political deepfake videos? Applications for the PhD scholarship associated with our National Intelligence Discovery are now open. We are looking for an outstanding candidate and have a generous scholarship of $56,558 per annum tax free.
The Political Deepfake Discovery Honours Scholarship is for high achieving students who are commencing in a one year Bachelor of Business (Honours) or Bachelor of Creative Industries (Honours) program at UniSC whose research interests and objectives are aligned with The Political Deepfake Discovery Honours project.
News
Who falls for political deepfakes? National study seeks to find and protect most vulnerable
As artificial intelligence evolves, deepfakes and misleading digitally created content have become increasingly difficult for people to distinguish from reality, impacting national security, elections and trust in media.
Disinformation and deepfakes played a part in the US election. Australia should expect the same
As America takes stock after Donald Trump’s re-election to the presidency, it’s worth highlighting the AI-generated fake photos, videos and audio shared during the campaign.
This project is funded by the Australian Office of National Intelligence.
(NI Discovery ID250100045)