Need for education

One in three people have never heard of “deepfakes”

Deepfakes are a mass phenomenon, but many are still completely unaware of them.

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It has affected the Pope as well as Donald Trump and US singer Taylor Swift: fake photos or videos of all of them have been distributed using artificial intelligence. These so-called deepfakes, i.e. digitally generated or altered images, videos or even audio sequences, are often difficult to recognize as fakes. However, a third (34%) of people are still completely unfamiliar with the term "deepfake".

A further 34% have heard the term before, but do not know exactly what it is. Only a fifth (22%) would be able to explain what it means. These are the results of a representative survey of 1004 people aged 16 and over conducted by the German industry association Bitkom.

"Deepfakes have long been a mass phenomenon. There needs to be a broad awareness of the fact that they exist and are sometimes used in a targeted manner to denigrate people, influence elections or mislead the public," says Bitkom CEO Dr. Bernhard Rohleder. "We need to make this and other important digitalization buzzwords understandable to everyone."

Other unknowns
Other digitalization terms are also a mystery to many people. Blackmail ransomware, for example, is unfamiliar to more than a third (36%). 33 percent have heard of the malware, but could not explain what it means. 22 percent feel able to explain the term in conversation.

Also completely unknown or inexplicable: metaverse (70 percent), blockchain (65 percent), cryptocurrency (61 percent) and chatbot (54 percent). However, many of those surveyed believe that they can now explain cookies (74%), 5G (67%) and artificial intelligence (60%).