---
title: "Report: 2020 Candidates Are Going to Get Owned by Deepfakes"
description: "## 2020 Vision"
date: "2019-06-04"
modified: "2019-06-04"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/2020-candidates-deepfakes"
categories:
  - "Artificial Intelligence"
tags:
  - "ai"
  - "deepfakes"
  - "politics"
  - "the digest"
---

# Report: 2020 Candidates Are Going to Get Owned by Deepfakes

![Deepfakes have become more powerful and accessible, but presidential candidates haven't taken steps to counter computer-generated misinformation.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2020-candidates-deepfakes.png>)
*\<em\>Image: Marc Nozell via Flickr/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## 2020 Vision

The technology to create believable deepfakes — [computer-generated media](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/ai-sounds-like-joe-rogan>) depicting real people doing or saying things that never occurred — is already here and widely accessible.

And yet, as America moves towards its 2020 presidential election, *[Axios ](<https://www.axios.com/2020-campaigns-arent-ready-for-deepfakes-a1506e77-6914-4e24-b2d1-0c69b6e22162.html>)*[reports](<https://www.axios.com/2020-campaigns-arent-ready-for-deepfakes-a1506e77-6914-4e24-b2d1-0c69b6e22162.html>) that not a single candidate can point to measures they've taken to prevent the spread of this potentially-dangerous media.

## Not My Problem

Major governments are treating deepfakes as a very real threat to [national security](<https://futurism.com/darpa-stop-deepfakes-facebook-google>) — the U.S. is [heavily invested](<https://futurism.com/darpa-68-million-technology-deepfakes>) in countering them and China may [ban them](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/deepfakes-illegal-china>) outright — and experts have warned for years that the technology could [undermine public trust](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/lawmakers-deepfakes-undermine-public-trust>) in the media.

But presidential candidates aren't taking heed. *Axios* contacted all current hopefuls, but only nine Democrats and the Trump campaign responded. None of them had a deepfake contingency plan in place, and most argued that it should be someone else's responsibility, whether that be the Democrat National Committee, the FBI, or the media.

## Already Happening

All that deflection is happening right after a video of Nancy Pelosi, altered to make her look drunk, went viral on Facebook. Anonymous experts who met with various presidential campaigns told *Axios* that the candidates still didn't seem to be taking the problem seriously.

"Campaigns have to have a strategy in place for dealing with this," UC Berkeley forensics expert Hany Farid told *Axios*.

**READ MORE:** [The 2020 campaigns aren't ready for deepfakes](<https://www.axios.com/2020-campaigns-arent-ready-for-deepfakes-a1506e77-6914-4e24-b2d1-0c69b6e22162.html>) \[*Axios*\]

**More on deepfakes:** *[Lawmakers: Deepfakes Could "Undermine Public Trust" in "Objective Depictions of Reality"](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/lawmakers-deepfakes-undermine-public-trust>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)