What Are AI Deepfakes?
How synthetic media is made, why detection is hard, and what laws apply today.
What they are
A deepfake is a video, image, or audio clip generated or altered by AI so that a real person appears to do or say something they did not. Modern tools can produce convincing results from short voice samples or a handful of photos.
Where they show up
Deepfakes appear in political robocalls, scam calls impersonating family members, fake celebrity endorsements, and non-consensual intimate imagery — which is the largest single category of harm by volume.
What the law says
More than 20 U.S. states have passed deepfake laws targeting election content or non-consensual imagery. The federal Take It Down Act criminalizes non-consensual intimate deepfakes nationwide. Federal election-deepfake legislation remains pending.
Further reading
Last updated May 2026