‘Inceptionism’ and Balenciaga popes: a brief history of deepfakes

What began as a primitive tool has spawned hyperrealistic fakes with the potential to disrupt elections around the world

Concern about doctored or manipulative media is always high around election cycles, but 2024 will be different for two reasons: deepfakes made by artificial intelligence (AI) and the sheer number of polls.

The term deepfake refers to a hoax that uses AI to create a phoney image, most commonly fake videos of people, with the effect often compounded by a voice component. Combined with the fact that around half the world's population is holding important elections this year - including India, the US, the EU and, most probably, the UK - and there is potential for the technology to be highly disruptive.