CBS is launching a unit charged with identifying misinformation and avoiding deepfakes. Called CBS News Confirmed, it will operate out of the news-and-stations division, ferreting out false information generated by artificial intelligence. Claudia Milne, senior VP of CBS News and Stations and its standards and practices chief will run the new group with Ross Dagan, EVP and head of news operations and transformation, CBS News and Stations. CBS plans to hire forensic journalists and will expand training and invest in technologies to assist them in their role. In addition to flagging deepfakes, CBS News Confirmed will also report on them.

“Technology is changing at an unprecedented pace, and the challenges created by the rise of generative AI, fake videos, and misinformation are too great for us not to meet head-on.” CBS News, Stations and Media Ventures Operations CEO Wendy McMahon said in a memo to staff reported in Variety.

The rollout of CBS News Confirmed “comes as networks solidify plans for coverage of the 2024 presidential election, with increasing concerns over the use of AI to manipulate candidates’ images and voices,” Deadline writes, noting that “at the White House last week, President Joe Biden recalled listening to his own manipulated voice that was generated by AI.”

Biden this month signed an executive order designed to establish AI guardrails, including transparency standards for watermarking and identification.

A July 2023 research finding from Northwestern University’s Buffett Institute for Global Affairs determined the rapid adoption of GenAI content “is a growing concern for the international community, governments and the public, with significant implications for national security and cybersecurity. It also raises ethical questions related to surveillance and transparency,” according to Variety.

Forbes warns of the pitfalls, writing that “in a new era of deepfakes, AI makes real news anchors report fake stories.” The fraud goes so far as to involve “deepfake news segments that appear to be delivered by top journalists and TV networks,” with examples “going viral across the Internet.”

“In many cases, these made-up segments featuring real-life broadcasters are drawing more eyeballs than legitimate clips posted on news organizations’ blue-check social media accounts,” according to Forbes.

“Social media is awash in misinformation about Israel-Gaza war,” but Elon Musk’s X “is the most egregious,” Associated Press reports, explaining there is a profit motive behind the fraud: “if such posts go viral, their blue-checked creators can be eligible for payments from X, creating a financial incentive to post whatever gets the most reaction — including misinformation.”

Related:
How Big a Threat Does Misinformation Pose to Democracy?, Nieman Lab, 11/6/23
Wired Is Launching Politics Vertical to Counter 2024 Election Disinformation, MediaPost, 11/6/23
A New Way to Tell Deepfakes from Real Photos: Can It Work?, The Wall Street Journal, 11/3/23