Artificial intelligence is behind a "dangerous" rise in deep fake videos in Ireland, a leading tech expert has warned. 

People can take clips from politicians and celebrities and manipulate what they say in order to deceive viewers.

A recent example includes Leo Varadkar appearing to endorse cryptocurrency; the Taoiseach has never endorsed any such scheme. 

“Typically you see these on social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, on X,” Irish Independent Tech Editor Adrian Weckler said. 

“The issue for those platforms is that they wait for someone to complain about or flag those AI videos before they take them down. 

“It’s like whack a mole because with a scam add - like all fake celebrity ads - they’ll just keep sticking them up and hope that some people will fall victim to the scams involved.” 

Mr Weckler said that although such videos are often realistic, he has found they are relatively simple to make. 

“[I made one with] nothing but my laptop and a webcam and a free online site which took 30 seconds of me saying random things and I was able to type a few lines into an online chat box,” he said. 

“It could manipulate and create a deep fake video saying anything I wanted it to say. 

“The problem we’re seeing is that you can find a speech from any prominent politician or celebrity and do what I did with my own deep fake video.” 

Elections in 2024

Ahead of this year’s election, Fianna Fáil Senator Malcolm Byrne has called for the creation of a special Oireachtas Committee on artificial intelligence (AI). 

He said he hoped that, “political parties would sign up to a code that they wouldn’t misuse AI in the course of an election."

Main image: Artificial intelligence concept. Picture by: Alamy.com