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Deep Fakes and the Infocalypse

On sale

6th August 2020

Price: £12.99

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Selected: Paperback / ISBN-13: 9781913183523

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“Nina Schick is alerting us to a danger from the future that is already here.” – Adam Boulton, Editor at Large, Sky News

Deep Fakes and the Infocalypse is an urgent, thoughtful and thoroughly-researched book that raises uncomfortable questions about the way that information is being distorted by states and individuals… A must-read.” – Greg Williams, Editor in Chief of WIRED UK

“Essential reading for any one interested about the shocking way information is and will be manipulated.” – Lord Edward Vaizey

“Schick’s Deep Fakes and the Infocalypse is a short, sharp book that hits you like a punch in the stomach.”
– Nick Cohen, The Observer

Deep Fakes is an uncomfortable but gripping read, probing the way in which the internet has been flooded with disinformation and dark arts propaganda.” – Jim Pickard, Chief Political Correspondent, Financial Times

“A searing insight into a world so many of us find difficult to understand. I was gripped from the first page.”
– Iain Dale, Broadcaster

“With this powerful book, Nina Schick has done us all a great public service…It’s your civic duty to read it.” – Jamie Susskind, author of Future Politics

“Gripping, alarming and morally vital.” – Ian Dunt, Host of Remainiacs Podcast


Deep Fakes are coming, and we are not ready.

Advanced AI technology is now able to create video of people doing things they never did, in places they have never been, saying things they never said.

In the hands of rogue states, terrorists, criminals or crazed individuals, they represent a disturbing new threat to democracy and personal liberty.

Deep Fakes can be misused to shift public opinion, swing Presidential elections, or blackmail, coerce, and silence individuals. And when combined with the destabilising overload of disinformation that has been dubbed ‘the Infocalypse’, we are potentially facing a danger of world-changing proportions.

Deep Fakes and the Infocalypse is International Political Technology Advisor Nina Schick’s stark warning about a future we all need to understand before it’s too late.

Deep Fake technology at its most insidious can currently be seen in the BBC drama series The Capture.

Reviews

Nick Cohen, The Observer
Schick's Deep Fakes and the Infocalypse is a short, sharp book that hits you like a punch in the stomach.
Jamie Susskind, Author of Future Politics
With this powerful book, Nina Schick has done us all a great public service. It's a brilliant guide to the challenges facing our information ecosystem. It's your civic duty to read it.
Iain Dale, Broadcaster, LBC
A searing insight into a world so many of us find difficult to understand. I was gripped from the first page and read the book in one sitting. The lessons I learned from it will stay with me for a long time.
Jim Pickard, Chief Political Correspondent, The Financial Times
Deep Fakes is an uncomfortable but gripping read, probing the way in which the internet has been flooded with disinformation and dark arts propaganda dubbed by Schick as "the Infocalypse" - and how that has undermined democracies in the world. The book sketches out an alarming future where convincing fakes will make it even harder for citizens to disentangle truth from lies, and I would advise policy-makers to read it.
Ian Dunt, Author: Brexit What the Hell Happens Next?
Gripping, alarming and morally vital. Reading this book is like being ushered into a terrifying new world where nothing can be trusted. Thankfully Nina Schick guides us through it in a reassuringly old-fashioned way: with diligence, breezy storytelling, expert insight and a tried-and-tested commitment to accuracy.
Kirkus Reviews
Those concerned with the criminal side of technology will learn from Schick's well-mounted argument.
Greg Williams, Editor in Chief of WIRED UK
Deep Fakes and the Infocalypse is an urgent, thoughtful and thoroughly-researched book that raises uncomfortable questions about the way that information is being distorted by states and individuals. Schick expertly outlines the key challenges that liberal democracies face to ensure the primacy of veracity and trust in public discourse. A must-read for anyone who cares about how the world is represented and an important addition to the discussion around the polarisation of contemporary politics.
Lord Edward Vaizey
This is essential reading for any one interested about the shocking way information is and will be manipulated - essential not just for policy makers but also CEOs and corporations having to navigate this new landscape.
Brian Klaas, Author, How to Rig an Election
Schick is a world-leading authority on the ways that warped information flows have broken our shared sense of reality. Deep Fakes is an urgent, illuminating, fast-paced read, making clear that if we break reality, we break democracy too.
Andrew Yang, Yang Speaks Podcast
If you are freaked out by this stuff and you want to see what the background is, and what the future can look like, this is the book for you. I learned a lot from it.
Adam Boulton, Sky News
Nina Schick is alerting us to a danger from the future that is already here. Deepfakes mean that we can't trust our eyes and ears. Listen to this vital warning.
Anne Applebaum, Author, The Twilight of Democracy
Disinformation is no longer a small element of the political landscape. In an era when political campaigns can be based on entirely false versions of reality, it is the political landscape. Schick's book helps explain how this has happened, and warns that it will get worse.
Brian Maye, The Irish Times
This thought-provoking, well-written book finishes with a rallying call: we need to understand, defend and fight back, and Schick tells us how.