**ByteDance Perfects Deepfake Technology, Because Reality Was Too Boring Anyway**
It may have taken centuries for mankind to master the written word, decades to perfect photography, and mere minutes for TikTok to ruin attention spans; but now, thanks to ByteDance, it takes only seconds to clone a human being into a video—because who even needs authenticity anymore?
ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok and the world’s leading distributor of accidental government secrets, has unveiled OmniHuman-1, an AI system capable of flawlessly deepfaking people with just a single photo and an audio sample. That’s right, your existence can now be convincingly duplicated with less effort than it takes to update your Instagram bio.
The technology was reportedly trained on 19,000 hours of footage, because, apparently, every second of every influencer’s life needs to be immortalized in the AI archives. OmniHuman-1 can not only morph you into a believable video but also adjust your body proportions, allowing users to realize their dream of looking like a Renaissance painting or a refrigerator with legs, all at the click of a button.
Experts have raised concerns about the societal impact of such technology, questioning how people will determine truth from fiction. Meanwhile, the internet responded by deepfaking world leaders into K-pop dance videos and generating an unholy amount of AI-generated thirst traps.
Legislators in ten U.S. states have already enacted laws against AI impersonation, which is adorable considering the rest of the legal system still struggles to keep up with email. But as guidelines roll out, enforcement remains difficult. One congressman reportedly asked if “turning reality into one big episode of Black Mirror” was a punishable offense, to which an OmniHuman-generated version of himself replied, “Absolutely not.”
ByteDance has yet to release OmniHuman-1 to the public, but given how every groundbreaking technology inevitably makes its way into obscure meme accounts and fraudulent fundraising campaigns, it’s only a matter of time before your grandmother thinks she starred in a Bollywood movie and Nigerian princes can now send AI-generated ransom videos for added credibility.
In the meantime, reality is on its last legs, and authenticity has been permanently demoted to “optional.” On the bright side, at least now you can finally create the version of yourself your LinkedIn profile has been lying about for years.
