A selfie is enough to take the lead role in feature films and music videos. Within days, the Zao Deepfake app became a viral hit in China. The software allows its users to digitally "cover" their own faces with Hollywood and pop stars in short video clips.
Game developer Allan Xia, for example, has had his face mounted in a series of film scenes with Leonardo DiCaprio. The clips were "created in less than eight seconds from a single photo", he writes on Twitter.
In case you have not heard, #ZAO is a Chinese app which completely blew up since Friday. Best application of 'Deepfake'-style AI facial replacement I've ever seen.
Here's an example of how the DiCaprio (generated in 8 secs of that photo in the thumbnail) pic.twitter.com/1RpnJJ3wgT
Examples like this have made Zao the most downloaded free app in China in the few days since last Friday's launch. With it produced clips and memes flood the social networks of the country. However, that also applies only to China, because so far, Zao is exclusively available there.
All rights to everything went to the developers
The hype that triggered the fake videos there is huge, but the concerns also. For example, a controversial clause in Zao's Terms of Use caused trouble. Users had to give up all rights to the content they created with the app. They ceded "completely free, irrevocable, perpetual, transferable and re-licensable rights" to the developers of the app. The controversial passages have now been removed from the user conditions, reports "Radii China".
"We fully understand the privacy concerns of everyone involved," said a statement released on the app's Weibo account. "We are aware of the problem and how we can solve it, we need a little time." The terms and conditions now state that user-generated content is used for other purposes only with the user's consent and that all deleted content is removed from the company's servers.
Transfer by face recognition
Critics fear that criminals could use the self-generated app to gain access to bank accounts or other services. In China, facial recognition technology is increasingly being used to biometrically secure online orders and payment transactions.
The largest Chinese online payment service provider, Alipay, has assured that portraits created with apps like Zao can not be used to outsmart the face recognition of their payment system. Should such a case occur - which, according to Alipay, is very unlikely - the victim would be compensated in full.
The concerns already have implications for the app: According to a report by "Techcrunch", users of WeChat Zao videos can indeed upload to the social network. However, if they try to post download links to Zao or download the app, they will be warned, "This site has been reported multiple times and has security risks," it says. "To ensure a secure online environment, access to this site has been blocked."
Fear of manipulation
The Zao -App is after other excitement such as the Obama Fake Video another example of how quickly and easily a digital face swap is now feasible. There is a risk that such deceptively real, but digitally faked recordings could be used in the future for the distribution of false news.
In the case of Zao, the risk currently seems limited. Especially because only the app can be used by default videos. The face swapping algorithm is trained only on these scenarios.
For the app to generate realistic scenes, users can also upload multiple facial expressions - yet the fake results are still far from deceptive authenticity.
"It's clear that Zao is not really focusing on accuracy, but on a subjective, good-looking result," says game developer Allan Xia about his clips created with the app. "Similar to a beauty cam app, the app retains the facial structure of the original actors, so the results look more or less always good and encourage users to share," says Xia. But he can well imagine that such software users in the future could make part of interactive Netflix or Disney series: "The new member of the Avengers ... you are."
