Fact check in the video: Is this the “real” Tom Cruise or a deepfake?

“What’s up Tiktok?”
With these words, Tom Cruise greets the Tiktok community. It is the actor’s first video on the platform. More than nine million users have already seen the clip that was uploaded at the end of February. There are now two more. But is the man really the real Tom Cruise?
This video is a so-called “deepfake” video by Tiktok user “Deeptomcruise”. The person’s face is computer generated and not Tom Cruise. Deepfakes is software that is fed with the help of as many photos as possible of the person to be faked. Since many different photos of actors like Tom Cruise from different angles are circulating on the Internet, stars are particularly suitable for deepfakes. An algorithm learns from the photos to imitate the facial expressions, eyes and mouth movement of the person exactly. The program then superimposes this face as a digital mask over another person’s face in a video recording. While this technology was still relatively immature about two years ago, it is now becoming increasingly difficult to detect “deepfakes”.
However, if you watch the videos of “Deeptomcruise” slowly or stop them in between, small image errors become noticeable. For example, when you take off your sunglasses, a pair of glasses disappears for a second.
In addition, Tom Cruise is now 58 years old. His face currently looks much older, like here during a shoot for the next “Mission Impossible” movie in October last year. The person also appears to be slightly taller than the 1.70 meter tall real Cruise. And the voice doesn’t really sound like the actor’s. (Comparison)
It is not known who is behind the recordings. The videos have now been deleted from the Tiktok channel.
Internet security experts are concerned about the development of artificial intelligence software. Entrepreneur and cyber security specialist Rachel Tobac calls on apps like Tiktok to use software that recognizes deepfakes and flags them as such:
“Deepfakes compromise public trust, provide cover and plausible denials to criminals/offenders caught on video or audio, and are used to manipulate, humiliate and hurt people.”
One way to avoid scams like this would be to have visually prominent verified celebrity accounts — even if they weren’t active on the platform. Non-verified accounts such as “Deeptomcruise” would then automatically be suspected of being fake.