deepfake

noun

deep·​fake ˈdēp-ˌfāk 

plural deepfakes

: a digital image, video, voice, etc. that has been convincingly generated or altered to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something that was not actually done or said

Deepfakes used to be obvious and clunky, with audio glitches and poorly edited video. But new generative AI tools have made it much easier and faster for malicious actors to improve these fakes …

—Sam Sabin

A deepfake is an AI-generated image, video or audio recording depicting a real person, typically for malicious purposes, and is difficult to distinguish from the real thing.

—Bruna Horvath

… AI deepfakes have gotten pretty impressive, raising concerns about their potential to spread misinformation especially around elections.

—Bruce Gil

—often used before another noun

Deepfake voice calls: Scammers now clone voices to impersonate airline representatives, hotel staff or even travel companions in distress.

—Christopher Elliott

Federal lawmakers from both parties reintroduced a revised version of … a Congressional bill aimed at unauthorized AI deepfake videos imitating a real person's voice and likeness.

—Jeremy Fuster

deepfake transitive verb

celebrities who get deepfaked

Scammers deepfaked her voice.

deepfaked

ˈdēp-ˌfākt 

adjective

a deepfaked image/video

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

Midnight Labs, an AI company focused on intellectual property protection in the entertainment industry, has secured an investment from Sony’s Innovation Fund to help bolster its efforts to combat piracy and deepfakes plaguing entertainment companies and content creators in the U.S. and Japan. —Corbin Bolies, Variety, 4 June 2026

Because some older adults are less familiar with AI technology, voice cloning and deepfakes can seem more believable. —Miranda Marquit, Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 May 2026

The deepfakes published by Hernandez, of Texas, included both celebrities as well as private women, including recent high school graduates, prosecutors said. —Jake Offenhartz, Fortune, 22 May 2026

The company preaches about the importance of AI transparency and combatting digital deepfakes, all the while developing the very technology that’s being used to mislead people. —Jess Weatherbed, The Verge, 20 May 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
• forsake
• gouache
• handshake
• headache