Netflix Reality Show ‘Tortures’ Contestants With Deepfaked Photos of Their Partners Cheating
A new Netflix reality TV show has come under fire for “torturing” contestants with deepfaked photos of their partners cheating.
The Spanish-language reality television series called Deep Fake Love (originally named Falso Amor) has caused controversy for its use of artificial intelligence (AI) generated images to test real-life couples’ love.
The show, which first aired on Netflix on July 6, revolves around five real-life couples who are all in serious relationships. Some couples are engaged and others have been together for years.
These five real-life couples are split up and then put into two separate houses for the show.
Single people looking for love are also added to the houses in an attempt to cause conflict among the separated couples.
At the end of each day in the houses, the couples’ trust for one another is then put to the test when they are made to watch videos that show their partners cheating on them. The videos may be real or they may be highly convincing AI deepfakes.
The contestants must then guess whether the footage of their partner kissing or having sex with someone else is real or fake. The couple with the most correct guesses can win $110,500 (or €100,000).
According to Decider, the couples in Falso Amor originally had no idea that they would be subjected to deepfaked imagery — making the show’s premise even more ethically ambivalent.
‘Like a Bad Black Mirror Episode’
Viewers have condemned the Netflix reality television show’s use of potentially dangerous deepfake technology to test contestants.
“I knew the AI was gonna be wild but watching this show Deep Fake Love is really putting things into perspective. You’re not even going to even be able to believe your eyes after a while because of deepfakes getting better,” a viewer writes.
Another social media user comments: “Deep Fake Love aka Falso Amor is like a bad Black Mirror episode synopsis, yet it’s a ‘real’ reality TV show. We’re deepfaking sh*t to ruin relationships now for entertainment?”
Research regarding the psychological impact of deepfakes is still relatively scarce. However, a recent study revealed that deepfaked videos that reinvent movies with a different actor are realistic enough to trick viewers into falsely remembering a film that never existed.
Meanwhile, a further study revealed how AI-generated deepfake faces look more real than genuine photos. According to the research, people cannot reliably distinguish photos of real faces and images that have been AI-generated.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
