deepfake

noun

deep·​fake ˈdēp-ˌfāk 

plural deepfakes

: an image or recording that has been convincingly altered and manipulated to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something that was not actually done or said

Two artists and an advertising company created a deepfake of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg saying things he never said, and uploaded it to Instagram.

—Samantha Cole

No law regulates deepfakes, though some legal and technical experts have recommended adapting current laws covering libel, defamation, identity fraud or impersonating a government official. But concerns of overregulation abound: The dividing line between a parody protected by the First Amendment and deepfake political propaganda may not always be clear-cut.

—Drew Harwell

With Mueller warning of future election meddling, [Representative Adam] Schiff said that one of his biggest concerns for future campaigns was the development of deepfake technology—the ability to manipulate videos or audio to change what a person appears to have said. 'How do we prepare against the late distribution of a fraudulent video?' Schiff said.

—Elias Groll and Amy Mackinnon

Did you know?

The old maxim "things aren’t always as they seem" seems more true than ever in the age of deepfakes. A deepfake is an image, or a video or audio recording, that has been edited using an algorithm to replace the person in the original with someone else (especially a public figure) in a way that makes it look authentic. The fake in deepfake is transparent: deepfakes are not real. The deep is less self-explanatory: this half of the term is specifically influenced by deep learning—that is, machine learning using artificial neural networks with multiple layers of algorithms.

Examples of deepfake in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The school received a tip in December 2024 about the deepfakes, but failed to act, according to lawyers representing at least 10 families in a pending lawsuit against the school. —Alyssa Goldberg, USA Today, 26 Mar. 2026

Even when they were warned to look out for deepfakes, the doctors only differentiated them accurately 75% of the time. —Theresa Gaffney, STAT, 25 Mar. 2026

In the absence of broad federal legislation, some states have passed laws addressing potentially risky and harmful uses of AI, such as the creation of misleading deepfakes and discrimination in hiring. —Hadas Gold, CNN Money, 20 Mar. 2026

While copyright, deepfakes, workforce impact and other effects of AI’s implementation continue to animate conversations between studios and streamers above-the-line unions, Continuum Suite is focused on below-the-line efficiencies. —Dade Hayes, Deadline, 11 Mar. 2026

Word History

Etymology

deep entry 1 (as in deep learning) + fake entry 2

First Known Use

2018, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for deepfake

• awake
• backache
• beefsteak
• betake
• cheesecake
• cupcake
• daybreak
• earthquake
• eastlake
• forsake
• handshake
• headache

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