{"id":46008,"date":"2022-11-02T08:58:55","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T12:58:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/?post_type=emagazine&#038;p=46008"},"modified":"2022-11-03T05:32:01","modified_gmt":"2022-11-03T09:32:01","slug":"authenticity-ai-verification-fakes","status":"publish","type":"emagazine","link":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/authenticity-ai-verification-fakes\/46008\/","title":{"rendered":"Can AI help mend trust in business damaged by trolling and fakes?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In 2021, artificial intelligence (AI) might have finally become better than humans at being human. A study found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/psychology\/about-us\/news\/ai-generated-faces-are-more-trustworthy-than-real-faces-say-researchers-who-warn-of-deep-fakes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">people trust AI-made fake faces more than real people\u2019s faces<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers warn their findings show widespread use of AI poses a threat to the public. They recommend stronger safeguards restricting code to those with good reason to use it.<\/p>\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/deepfakes-2019\/28954\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">deepfakes<\/a> and manipulated imagery increase, we\u2019ve seen a counter-balance in <a href=\"https:\/\/theagencyinc.ca\/blog\/the-importance-of-authenticity-in-business-communications\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">businesses wanting to communicate with customers in a more authentic voice<\/a>. This also means rooting out manipulated sentiment and trolling, so we see governments and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/business-62161520\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">brands contracting tech firms to reveal those spreading disinformation<\/a> on social media.<\/p>\n<h2>Could we get better at spotting fakes?<\/h2>\n<p>In a world where <a href=\"https:\/\/www.psypost.org\/2022\/09\/41-of-teenagers-cant-tell-the-difference-between-true-and-fake-online-health-messages-63858\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">four in ten teens can\u2019t tell the difference between fake and real news<\/a>, rebuilding trust must be a business priority. But how AI technology has advanced makes it complex.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s now easy to create many synthetic images and videos using AI systems that analyze thousands of real images to learn how to make fakes. In the past, that workload would\u2019ve needed many trained people.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-promo-post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"o-row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"o-col-12@sm\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<article class=\"c-card c-card--link c-card--hor@xs c-card--small@xs\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-card__figure c-card__figure--small@xs c-card__figure--medium@sm\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/customer-trust-inside-out\/44713\/\" class=\"c-card__figure-link\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/media.kasperskydaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2022\/06\/24073403\/earning-customer-trust-header-500x500.jpg\" class=\"attachment-card-default size-card-default wp-post-image\" alt=\"earning customer trust\" data-src=\"https:\/\/media.kasperskydaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2022\/06\/24073403\/earning-customer-trust-header-500x500.jpg\" data-srcset=\"\" srcset=\"\">\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-card__body  \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<header class=\"c-card__header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"c-card__headline\">Related article<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"c-card__title \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/customer-trust-inside-out\/44713\/\" class=\"c-card__link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Earn customer trust with \u2018inside out\u2019 business values<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg class=\"o-icon o-svg-icon o-svg-right\"><use xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" xlink:href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/kaspersky-emagazine\/assets\/sprite\/icons.svg#icon-arrow-long\"><\/use><\/svg>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/header>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-card__desc \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>There\u2019s no shortcut to gaining customer trust \u2013 you must earn it. But the best place to start is with your employees. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<footer class=\"c-card__footer\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-card__list\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"c-list-labels js-has-reading-time\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"c-list-labels__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/category\/artificial-intelligence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Artificial intelligence<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><span class=\"js-reading-time\"><\/span> min read<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"u-hidden js-reading-content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tI've particularly noticed two business trends since the pandemic. First, people aren't rushing back to work \u2013 whether it's called the Great Resignation or Great Reshuffle, we're thinking hard about where and why we work. Second, we've become more dependent on, and aware of, technology and how it's shaping narratives in society.\r\n\r\nTech can earn business gains in efficiency and productivity, but there's no shortcut to earning trust. Fuelled by mistrust in media and government, public trust is declining. There's an opportunity for businesses to lead in regaining public trust, and I believe they should start with their employees.\r\nDistrust has become the default\r\nThe pandemic sparked fears about personal and societal issues. There are existential concerns like climate change and growing worries about personal freedoms and economic security. This anxiety and insecurity make it hard to trust.\r\n\r\nThe Edelman Trust Barometer surveys 36,000 respondents in 28 countries on their relationship with business, government and the media. The 2022 Barometer shows distrust has become the default, especially distrust of government and media. Who people trust has become more local, like co-workers and neighbors, and distrust of outsiders has risen.\r\n\r\n\r\nThe business of raising trust\r\nTrust has long been weak in media, but the Edelman Trust Barometer showed trust in government has fallen around 25 percent between 2020 and 2022. Trust in business meanwhile stayed at about the same level.\r\n\r\nPeople are looking to business to tackle big issues rather than their governments. It's an opportunity for business leaders, but not those who picture nothing more than trust-promoting marketing operations and communications ploys.\r\n\r\n\r\nCutting through the fake\r\nThe public sees CEOs and business leaders with a wary eye. Between 2021 and 22, those who said they worry business leaders are intentionally misleading people went up to 63 percent. Similar concerns about journalists (67 percent) and government leaders (66 percent) have risen too.\r\n\r\n\r\nBuild trust from the inside out\r\nThe Edelman Trust Barometer found employees tend to give credence to their CEO. But what about your employees? It's worth doing an anonymous internal survey to find out how much they trust your company.\r\n\r\nInternally, transparency is an excellent way to earn confidence. Show faith in your employees and give them accurate information about your strategy and intentions.\r\n\r\nThere are, of course, limits to how transparent businesses can be. You can't divulge intellectual property secrets or make big announcements before an earnings report as a publicly-traded company. But the way you operate and communicate internally must be consistent with how you want customers and stakeholders to see you.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nI call this the 'inside-out' model: What goes on at the core radiates out through the value chain. The core is your executive and employees. Moving out from the core are your ambassadors, distributors and suppliers. The next level is customers. Demonstrating consistency over time \u2013 from the inside out \u2013 will mean greater trust.\r\nGain trust the old fashioned way: Earning it\r\nI have seen these three leadership attitudes matter when it comes to instilling trust throughout your organization and value chain.\r\n\r\nFirst, when possible, under-promise and over-deliver \u2013 for example, in marketing promises, delivery dates and product performance.\r\n\r\nSecond, have a karmic attitude \u2013 giving without expecting anything in return. A transactional approach, based on equal exchange, means no margin for 'extras,' and can rapidly decline into an adversarial relationship. A karmic attitude builds up credit.\r\n\r\nMarcus Sheridan built a successful swimming pool business by giving away relevant and honest content. Credit is important over the long haul if you need forgiveness for an error. Unexpected things happen, and there are unavoidable, big-picture issues like global supply chains breaking down and wholesale price rises.\r\n\r\nThird, bring your company's purpose to life and ensure it impacts your behavior, language and decision-making. The most important audience is your employees: Ensure they clearly understand and experience the company purpose and vision \u2013 many employees say they don't fully understand theirs.\r\n\r\nHowever, avoid overselling your purpose \u2013 it's better to understand your limits than to promise something you can't deliver. Strive to live up to what you say. Admit mistakes and be honest about your failings. This will help build trust and engender loyalty.\r\nOvercoming the challenges of tech and trust\r\nAs businesses grow, they need more tech to help manage many customers and workflows. Many organizations are starting to use artificial intelligence (AI) to support customer relationship management (CRM,) customer service and eCommerce.\r\n\r\nWhile there are great uses for AI, issues around data privacy, invasive personalization and bias are legion. You need a solid ethical framework to manage these.\r\n\r\nUsing empathy to understand the employee and customer journey better is vital. And to be trusted, especially with AI, you must have a firm grasp on the outcomes you want. For example, when using chatbots to augment customer service, tell your customers what kind of agent they're dealing with (bot or not) and be alert to when a human agent must step in to ensure the best customer experience.\r\n\r\nThere's no shortcut to building trust. It takes a concerted effort across the organization. If you've built a loyal and trusting partnership with your employees and stakeholders, they'll be your best ambassadors and be more forgiving of your mistakes. Be vigilant when trust starts to erode: Trust is hard-earned and quickly lost.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/footer>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n<p>The FBI recently alerted that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ic3.gov\/Media\/Y2022\/PSA220628\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">HR managers have spotted people using deepfakes to apply for remote jobs<\/a>. But why?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFake employment applicants may be hoping to access and hack the hiring company\u2019s IT systems,\u201d says Kaspersky senior data scientist Dmitry Anikin. \u201cIt\u2019s happening, but today, it\u2019s hard to do well. Making a high-quality deepfake needs much data and computing power, especially for online meetings. We should prepare for the threat to grow, because technology doesn\u2019t stand still.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Fighting to maintain online credibility<\/h2>\n<p>All business relies on trust. So how can business operate with the albatross of fakery hovering above?<\/p>\n<p>Luckily, companies like <a href=\"https:\/\/truepic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Truepic<\/a> offer solutions. Truepic\u2019s software development kit (SDK) integrates with apps that rely on images, verifying media in real time.<\/p>\n<p>It checks image metadata \u2013 like when, where and on which device it was created \u2013 then cryptographically signs it, embedding validation in the file. This lets businesses on the back end know if content is real or synthetic.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>When people can manipulate images and videos, it creates a zero-trust environment where we don\u2019t know if what we\u2019re looking at is real or fake.<\/p>\n<cite><p>Nick Brown, vice president of product, Truepic<\/p><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<div id=\"attachment_46011\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-46011\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-46011\" src=\"https:\/\/media.kasperskydaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2022\/11\/01131539\/Nick-Brown-Headshot-300x300.jpeg\" alt=\"Nick Brown\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-46011\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nick Brown, Truepic<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Truepic\u2019s clients include credit reporting company Equifax and car manufacturer Ford. When Ford pays out on a warranty claim, they need to know if car parts or damage photographs are legitimate or have been manipulated or pulled from the web.<\/p>\n<p>Brown says tagging tools like Truepic come at a time of brand and consumer frustration with social media companies doing little to stem disinformation. \u201cWe\u2019re in that sea change now. A consumer push for authenticity is starting to pressure social media platforms to take notice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But firms like Truepic aren\u2019t sitting on their hands waiting for Facebook, Twitter and TikTok to act differently. Truepic belongs to <a href=\"https:\/\/contentauthenticity.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Adobe\u2019s Content Authenticity Initiative<\/a> (CAI), a community of tech companies, media, non-government organizations (NGOs) and others promoting an open industry standard for proving content authenticity. This year, <a href=\"https:\/\/contentauthenticity.org\/blog\/cai-releases-suite-of-open-source-tools-to-advance-digital-content-provenance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Adobe released a three-part open-source toolkit<\/a> to help get trust-building technology into developers\u2019 hands faster.<\/p>\n<h2>Rooting out social media trolls<\/h2>\n<blockquote><p>As the unreal world nudges its way into everyday reality, brands and consumers want to see trolls and bots taken off social media.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerofox.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">ZeroFox<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/astroscreenhq\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Astroscreen<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/cyabra.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Cyabra<\/a> use AI to identify disinformation disseminators and \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sock_puppet_account\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">sock puppets<\/a>\u2018 \u2013 fake profiles creating an illusion of wider support for (or opposition to) an idea or company.<\/p>\n<p>Cyabra calls itself a \u201csocial media search engine designed to track and measure the impact of fake accounts.\u201d Companies like Cyabra recognize social media platforms aren\u2019t doing this enough.<\/p>\n<p>Rafi Mendelsohn, vice president of marketing at Cyabra, says, \u201cWe look at the \u2018breadcrumbs\u2019 to find out if an account is real or not.\u201d Breadcrumbs might be, for example, a user posting 23 hours a day or multiple users Tweeting the same text.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_46018\" style=\"width: 305px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-46018\" class=\"wp-image-46018 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/media.kasperskydaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2022\/11\/03053042\/Rafi-Mendelsohn--1-295x300.jpeg\" alt=\"Rafi Mendelsohn\" width=\"295\" height=\"300\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-46018\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rafi Mendelsohn, Cyabra<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Brands using Cyabra include Warner Media, which faced a deluge of Twitter trolling when they announced the first female-led superhero film, Wonder Woman, in 2017. \u201cWe helped Warner recognize authentic enthusiasm for the film and what was false,\u201d says Mendelsohn.<\/p>\n<p>Cyabra works with Brazilian, Colombian and US state governments to track fake narratives leading up to major elections. Mendelsohn notes, \u201cHuman analysts have done this work for years, but we can do it at scale with AI.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the highly <a href=\"https:\/\/cyabra.com\/musk-v-twitter-read-cnns-article-on-cyabras-analysis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">publicized battle between Elon Musk and Twitter<\/a>, Musk contracted Cyabra to find out how many Twitter users were fake before confirming purchase \u2013 their analysis found about 11 percent.<\/p>\n<h2>Towards a more authentic internet<\/h2>\n<p>Those studying distrust online have found language is important in identifying disinformation. Victoria Rubin, associate professor of information and media studies at University of Western Ontario, has tracked disinformation spreaders for several years and noticed some hallmarks. \u201cThose who lie don\u2019t often reference themselves in posts and prefer to use \u2018they\u2019 in language.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She says fake news and election lies spread fast when people don\u2019t look critically at what they see. It\u2019s common \u2013 haven\u2019t we all reacted to a news item after just reading the headline?<\/p>\n<p>Disinformation isn\u2019t going anywhere soon, so to attack it requires greater vigilance. Those I interviewed said education and company responsibility must be part of confronting it. They agree we must teach people how bad actors use new technologies to fool us something\u2019s real when it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n<p>Platforms like Twitter and Facebook must also do as much as possible to rebuild trust, says Truepic\u2019s Brown. \u201cOur big-picture goal is an internet with built-in authenticity infrastructure, so everyone has the right data to make decisions that affect their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bad actors spreading fakes and disinformation on social media has sent business on a quest for online authenticity. AI-based authentication tools could help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2627,"featured_media":46009,"template":"","coauthors":[3979],"class_list":{"0":"post-46008","1":"emagazine","2":"type-emagazine","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"emagazine-category-artificial-intelligence","7":"emagazine-category-digital-transformation","8":"emagazine-category-tech-for-business","9":"emagazine-tag-disinformation","10":"emagazine-tag-misinformation"},"hreflang":[{"hreflang":"x-default","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/customer-trust-inside-out\/44713\/"},{"hreflang":"en-us","url":"https:\/\/usa.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/customer-trust-inside-out\/26670\/"}],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/emagazine\/46008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/emagazine"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/emagazine"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=46008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}