Close icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification. A deepfake video comparison of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Elyse Samuels/The Washington Post/Getty Images Deepfakes use deep learning artificial intelligence to replace the likeness of one person with another in video and other digital media. There are concerns that deepfake technology can be used to create fake news and misleading, counterfeit videos. Here is a primer on deepfakes – what it is, how it works, and how it can be detected. Computers have been getting increasingly better at simulating reality. Modern cinema, for example, relies heavily on computer-generated sets, scenery, and characters in place of the practical locations and props that were once common, and most of the time these scenes are largely indistinguishable from reality.