Software company releases Chrome extension that detects AI-generated profile pictures

In an effort to combat online misinformation, software company V7 Labs has created a new Google Chrome extension that can detect fake profile pictures created by artificial intelligence (AI). The company claims that its software, which also relies on AI technology, has a 99.28% accuracy rate in determining whether a supposed person on social media etc. does not actually exist.

Fake companies and fake profiles are the go-to for malicious individuals, and the existence of tools that allow them to create a fake person can significantly add more depth to their deception. Basically, the latter can lead investigators on a wild goose chase, having them search for a person who never existed in the first place.

Such technologies are indeed available as demonstrated by the online artificial portrait generator This person does not exist, which runs on an artificial intelligence system powered by the NVIDIA StyleGAN neural network. On a somewhat related note, China’s Xinhua news agency also used similar technology in 2018, where it introduced the world to its first-ever AI newscaster.

V7 Labs founder Alberto Rizzoli hopes that raising awareness of fake profiles, along with his software, will help users prevent themselves from falling prey to online scams and misinformation. “There’s a lot of misleading content on social media these days and one of its propagators are fake profiles,” he said during a demonstration of the company’s software in a posted video. on Loom.

He also noted that some photos, especially those generated by the previously mentioned website, will have noticeable discrepancies, including oddly shaped pupils and misplaced earrings that come off as fakes. As This Person Does Not Exist points out – which also educates users on becoming aware of artificially generated people – sometimes a neural network makes mistakes, resulting in artifacts such as a misfolded pattern, a strange hair color, etc.

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However, there are also portraits generated by more advanced software capable of avoiding typical flaws. What is worrying is that it is more difficult for humans to identify their legitimacy. Rizzoli assures that V7 Labs’ software is able to quickly determine if these profile pictures are fake with just a few clicks, although he notes that it is still unable to detect the high-quality deepfakes that are featured in the videos for the moment.

Interested people can try out the Google Chrome software and extension by installing it through the browser official online store. In terms of privacy, V7 Labs states that the Fake Profile Detector plugin will not collect or use any data from its users.

(Source: Petapixel)