Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has issued a cautionary message to the general public, urging them to train vigilance towards the rising risk of deepfake movies, significantly these falsely depicting him endorsing cryptocurrency investments. The advisory is available in response to the current emergence of a manipulated video circulating on numerous social media platforms.
Taking to his official Fb web page, Prime Minister Lee addressed the difficulty, revealing his consciousness of a number of deepfake movies falsely portraying him and Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong partaking within the promotion of cryptocurrency scams. He emphasised the perpetrators’ utilization of synthetic intelligence (AI) expertise to copy their voices and manipulate genuine footage taken from official occasions.
“These scammers use AI expertise to imitate our voices and pictures,” Lee acknowledged, “reworking actual footage into very convincing however fully bogus movies purporting to say issues that we’ve by no means mentioned.”
One particular deepfake video depicted Lee collaborating in an interview with a presenter from the information community CGTN, cleverly altered to create the phantasm of him discussing a government-endorsed “transformative funding platform envisioned by Elon Musk.”
Lee sternly warned the general public towards responding to such fraudulent movies, particularly these promising assured returns on investments or attractive ‘giveaways.’ Moreover, he inspired Singaporeans to report scams and pretend information by way of the federal government’s official ScamShield Bot on WhatsApp.
This is not the primary occasion of Prime Minister Lee addressing the dangers related to AI. In September 2019, he expressed considerations in regards to the growing sophistication of AI, making it difficult to belief what one sees or hears. In July of this 12 months, he highlighted how scammers strategically leverage durations of heightened media protection to take advantage of his picture for working cryptocurrency scams and pretend ads.
Because the prevalence of deepfake expertise continues to develop, Lee emphasised the need for vigilance, asserting that safeguarding oneself and family members towards such scams is paramount. The assertion serves as a reminder of the evolving panorama of digital deception and the significance of staying knowledgeable and cautious within the face of AI-driven threats.