“Deepfake” Technology in the Digital Age: Mechanism Characteristics, Functional Alienation and Optimization Strategy

The rise of “deepfake” technology benefits from the wide application of big data technology and the innovative development of deep learning technology. Because it meets people’s needs for high simulation forgery of video, sound, pictures and other information, it soon becomes a new popular application tool. But at the same time, “deepfake” technology, as a “double-edged sword”, also brings a series of problems to the society which can be listed as follows: It is widely used to create a variety of scenes what the virtual and the real are blended, which leads to social confusion and dissolving the symbolic regulation of the real world. Being used as a sabotage and offensive technology tool, which causes various social anomies, chaos and crises. As a “clone” type technology tool, which results in a new crisis of trust in society and the collapse of social consensus. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the coexistence, harmony and benign development relationship between the “deepfake” technology and human society. While the approach of “technology against technology” is tried to be optimized, the technicism and humanism should be integrated organically. Besides, the institution related to “deepfake” technology ought to be improved and perfected. And a synergistic governance mechanism for “deep fake” technology is also supposed to be established.