This unit introduces the historical, technical, and ethical foundations of fabricated media from analog deception to the current industrial era of real-time deepfakes. Students will survey key case studies, roles (e.g., VFX artists, coordinated creators), and viral dynamics to prepare for deeper technical, managerial, and policy-focused work in subsequent units.
Learning Objectives
- Analyze the historical progression of deceptive media across the Analog, Digital, Deep Learning, Viral, and Industrial eras, identifying at least four technological and social drivers that enabled each phase
- Evaluate ethical and business implications of viral manipulation by critiquing multiple case studies and articulating potential reputational, legal, and operational risks for organizations
- Apply foundational VFX and deepfake concepts to map a basic production and distribution pipeline and identify common indicators of prerecorded and real-time deepfakes in sample media
- Demonstrate preparedness for subsequent units by producing a concise written or oral forecast that connects emerging deepfake capabilities to likely management, policy, and stakeholder responses
Curriculum
- 1 Section
- 12 Lessons
- 30 hours
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- Unit 1 — Origins and Ethics of Deepfakes12
- 1.1The VFX Artist Behind the Mask20 mins
- 1.2The Super Deepfake Squad20 mins
- 1.3The Giraffe Who Knew Too Much20 mins
- 1.4Real‐Time Deepfakes: The Turning Point20 mins
- 1.5The Ethics of Viral Manipulation20 mins
- 1.6Lessons from Going Viral20 mins
- 1.7What’s Next?20 mins
- 1.8The Analog Era (1870s–1980s): The First Deceptions20 mins
- 1.9The Dawn of Digital (1980s–2000s): The Democratization Begins20 mins
- 1.10The Deep Learning Revolution (2000s–2017): When Machines Learned to See20 mins
- 1.11The Viral Era (2018–2023): When Business Met Deception20 mins
- 1.12The Industrial Era (2023–Current): The New Normal20 mins
Instructor
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