While the malicious use of generative AI and deepfake technology poses serious challenges to global society, it would be unfair to deny that productive applications of said technologies can have a positive impact across industries. In fact, when used responsibly and with ethical considerations in mind, deepfakes have the potential to revolutionize various sectors and bring about significant benefits. 

From enhancing entertainment experiences to improving communication and accessibility, the creative possibilities of deepfakes are vast and exciting. By allowing us to manipulate and re-imagine audio-visual content, deepfakes can enable new forms of storytelling, facilitate more engaging educational experiences, and even empower individuals with disabilities to participate more fully in online interactions — all creating a positive impact on the society while remaining a far cry from the malicious uses of this technology.

Accessibility and Inclusion 

Deepfakes can be used to easily generate sign language interpretation for videos and other content, ensuring that users who use sign language can have the same level of access as anyone else.

Deepfake technology can be utilized to create natural-sounding voices for communication devices, offering individuals with speech disabilities a more personalized and expressive means of verbal communication.

Deepfakes can provide precise audio interpretations of visual content for individuals with visual impairments, enabling them to better enjoy TV shows, films, and other media.

Deepfakes can also be used to create custom educational content, adapting specific pedagogic styles customized for a student’s individual learning needs, making education more accessible and functional for all.

In language learning, deepfake models can simulate face-to-face conversations with virtual native speakers of the target language, and allow learners to experience the new language in a variety of generated scenarios catered specifically to the learner’s needs, goals, and proficiency level. AI models could help teachers and language learning software adjust to the learner’s progress on the go. 

Medical Training

Generative models can be used to create simulations of patient cases, allowing medical students and professionals alike to enhance their diagnostic skills, bedside manner, and time-sensitive decision-making. Generated scenarios can imitate a variety of medical histories, comorbidities, and patient personalities. In addition, AI-generated imaging results — X-rays, MRIs — can train a medical professional’s eye to various outcomes and sharpen their ability to spot abnormalities.

Environmental Monitoring

Generative models can simulate the possible effects of environmental shifts and their consequences, such as rising sea levels, deforestation, or extreme weather events. By creating hypothetical visualizations of these events, experts can better understand the possible impact on populations and environments, and create more effective response plans for emergency situations, land use mapping, and urban development. 

Entertainment

In the entertainment industry, deepfake technology can be used to enhance special effects and overall visual appearance in movies, television, video games, and other media, deepening audience immersion.

Deepfakes can also be used to create realistic doubles for performers, lowering the risk for actors performing stunts. enhancing storytelling, and cutting production costs. It is crucial to note the downsides of deepfakes in entertainment, as performer compensation might be affected by studios owning their AI-generated likeness. Safeguards—like the ones negotiated during the SAG-AFTRA strike in 2023—must be put in place to ensure fair compensation, and to ensure human performers cannot have their likeness appropriated in a way that would permanently replace them with synthetic clones.

Therapy and Counseling

Deepfake and generative AI technology can be utilized in creating realistic simulations of therapeutic scenarios to help patients navigate challenging situations in a controlled environment. The simulations can include virtual exposure therapy, offering individuals with PTSD, phobias, and anxiety and depression disorders controlled subjection to triggering environments. Using these tools, therapists and counselors can create scenarios specifically tailored to the unique needs of their patients, enhancing access and effectiveness.   

Communication

In the near future, deepfakes technology is poised to revolutionize video conferencing by enabling the creation of virtual personas that can seamlessly integrate into video calls. By utilizing AI-powered avatars that mimic the appearance and mannerisms of individual users, the need for extensive bandwidth on platforms like Zoom will significantly decrease. This innovation will allow for more efficient use of internet resources, reducing lag times and buffering issues that often plague high-quality video conferencing. 

Moreover, virtual personas can be tailored to suit different settings and purposes, such as business meetings or social gatherings, allowing individuals to present themselves in a more polished and professional light. Such personas are already available on devices like the Apple Vision Pro.

Utilizing proper safeguards and protections against the malicious misuse of deepfake technology by bad actors will allow us to better focus on the ways in which generative AI can be used for the benefit of humanity.