We’ve seen a lot of bizarre and/or frightening deepfake videos making their way across the internet this year — like this one of Keanu Reeves as Tony Montana in Scarface. But there’s a deepfake of Elon Musk as Dave in 2001: A Space Odyssey out there now. It may be the new cake-taker in terms of creepiness ’cause this kind of scenario is definitely plausible IRL.
The video of the SpaceX, Tesla, and Boring Co. CEO as Dave, dubbed “2021: A SpaceX Odyssey,” is the creation of YouTuber Ctrl Shift Face; Ctrl Shift Face is also responsible for this insanely realistic deepfake of Bill Hader turned into Tom Cruise as well as this one of Jim Carrey in The Shining. And while there’s no explanation for the video on Ctrl Shift Face’s YouTube channel or twitter account, we can only assume that this idea began with that name. It’s just too perfect, right?
In terms of the creep factor, the confluence of technologies in the clip turns that little dial all the way up to 11. Yes, 2001 was prescient in a lot of ways — some of which may be apparent in the future? — but add in the guy who’s actually working in just about every facet of artificial intelligence research and now you have a stark reminder of what could happen with technology out of our control.
Speaking of which, all these deepfake videos are generated by generative adversarial networks, which fall under the heading of machine learning and, ultimately, artificial intelligence. What happens when HAL has control of exponentially better deepfake technology? Should we ask Dave Musk?
What do you think of this mash-up of Elon Musk and 2001? And how much does this deepfake technology freak you out? Let us know in the comments if you’re real!
Images: Ctrl Shift Face
