AI tech now lets you impersonate anyone on video calls

Face-swapping AI tech now lets you impersonate anyone on a video call. All you need is a single photo.

You know all those warnings about an impending wave of AI-powered scams? Well, you can now add impersonation via live video calls to the list.

Check out video of X user João Fiadeiro impersonating well-known personalities such as Mark Zuckerberg and George Clooney below.

AI-powered scamming

One such software package, Deep-Live-Cam has been making the rounds online over the last week.

How it works:

• Loads a single headshot photo.
• Applies it to a live webcam video.
• Blends photo with your expression in real-time.

Viola, you can now be anyone on the call.

Don't believe your eyes

To be clear, Deep-Live-Cam has been in the works since last year and is merely one of the more popular options among other face-swapping software.

Deep-Live-Camp is free on GitHub, though you'll need some technical chops - and a powerful PC - to get things working correctly.

Under the hood, it leverages several other software packages, including an AI model to do the face swap, and a different AI model to step up the quality of its output.

So don't expect to run it on your 5-year-old PC.

A secret 'safe' word?

To be clear, face-swapping digital tech has been demonstrated in the past. However, it was clunky, expensive, and crucially, didn't operate in real-time.

This is no longer the case.

As bugs are ironed out and onboard AI processing capabilities are built into smartphones and PCs, expect face-swapping tech to get even better.

Who knows, perhaps we will all need to establish a 'safe' word between family members and loved ones for both voice and video calls in the future.

Some food for thought for the weekend.