In a deeply polarized world, engineers of disinformation leverage the power of deepfakes to deepen political divides and erode the concept of shared truth integral to any functioning democracy. One of Reality Defender’s most important objectives is to combat disinformation, misinformation, and all harm caused by malicious deepfakes and the nefarious misuse of AI. 

This mission requires complete political neutrality, as the business of detecting deepfakes is based on hard data and independent research and decidedly not the beliefs of any one individual or individuals on the Reality Defender team. As an organization, Reality Defender does not take a political stance, as we view deepfakes and the dangers posed by the misuse and abuse of generative AI as serious issues that affect all people — regardless of political or other affiliations. 

Why Deepfakes Are a Non-Partisan Issue

We are proud to say that the experts on Reality Defender’s team come from all walks of life and ideological backgrounds, and we are bound by a singular purpose that remains our only focus in the workplace: creating the most dependable, powerful deepfake detection software on the market. Although our company has evolved since its inception, we have never strayed from the principles established by myself and my fellow co-founders when Reality Defender began as a non-profit research organization. 

Simply put, our goal is to use AI for the good of all human beings. 

The purpose of the tools we create is to determine the likelihood of any piece of media or text being a potential AI-manipulated creation. It is not our intention to pass judgments, opine, or draw conclusions about any contexts surrounding the incidents during which deepfakes are exposed. We leave the work of contextualizing and interpretation to the news media, legislators, individuals, and the digital platforms that create the policies for hosting AI-generated content.

Despite the many AI-fueled disinformation campaigns launched to divide us — at Reality Defender, we encounter such efforts hourly — we are encouraged to see that legislators seem to concur that fighting deepfakes is a bipartisan priority that transcends ideological schism. Despite the atmosphere of deep partisanship in Congress, curbing the misuse of AI is the issue that — miraculously, and thankfully — unites an otherwise bitterly divided governing body. Crucial bills like the DEFIANCE Act and TAKE IT DOWN Act are establishing the needed legislative framework for AI-generated content. What these bills have in common, aside from protecting everyday people from malicious deepfakes, is that they have been co-written and presented by legislators from both sides of the aisle. 

Our lawmakers truly recognize that the threat posed by the unchecked misuse of AI technology affects all of us, and their spirit of bipartisan cooperation is one we share when it comes to fighting the spread of deepfakes on every front. Regardless of the political climate, and regardless of which candidate has been the target or beneficiary of deepfakes, our mission remains the same: we will continue to develop tools that can reliably identify deepfakes, so that members of the public can remain informed about the nature of the media they consume and have access to a truth that existed before the advent of generative AI.