Chapter Twenty #3
to review something even tangentially related to the Lyric Adair. I’ve examined the video you sent, first manually by slowing it down and studying it frame by frame. The glitch
you mentioned around the seventeen-second mark was apparent, yes, but I couldn’t be certain if it was the result of the video’s
compression. However, there were a few clues later in the video that raised several red flags, namely the inconsistency in
lighting, a strange absence of blinking that speaks to AI’s current struggle to capture the subtleties of human movement,
facial expressions that simply seemed “off,” etc., so I also ran it through our detection software. Our system has found that
there’s a high likelihood that both individuals’ faces and bodies were manipulated with AI. Attached are the findings.
I imagine you intend to clear Mr. Curran’s name. To preempt what I imagine to be your next question, I’m happy to go on the
record. At the very least it will win me brownie points with my girls.
Best,
Rodger Schillinger (he/him)
Professor, Artificial Intelligence
Human-Computer Interaction Institute
School of Computer Science
306B Newell-Simon Hall
Carnegie Mellon
Breaking news: video of Cash Curran and Ashley Tibbey deemed “deepfake” by artificial intelligence experts
by Holly Koch
published on January 7
Fans were sent into a frenzy last month after news of Cash Curran’s infidelity broke, video footage shared with Notoriety Magazine showing the star quarterback engaged in an intimate moment with ex-girlfriend, model Ashley Tibbey, at Kasa Nightclub in
Portland, Oregon.
However, multiple deepfake forensics experts have now examined the video and agree that “signs of gross AI manipulation are
present.”
“There are signs that point to AI manipulation, but it can be hard to spot with the human eye, especially as the systems being
used to create these deepfakes get better and better,” said Rodger Schillinger, professor of Artificial Intelligence and faculty
adviser in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon. “That’s why we’ve developed deepfake detection software.
When a photo or video is fed through, it provides a confidence score that shows whether the media in question has been manipulated.
Our lab evaluated the video of Cash Curran making the rounds and gave us an extremely high confidence score. I can say with
99 percent certainty that manipulation is present.”
When asked how the general public can better spot AI manipulation, Schillinger said to pay attention to “inconsistencies in
lighting, shadows, and color” and “bizarre or awkward facial and body movements,” all of which he claims are present in the
manipulated video of Curran.
“Whoever created this deepfake did a decent job, but it’s clear that his mouth doesn’t move the way a regular human mouth is meant to.
The joints of his fingers look odd when the video is magnified and his coloring is inconsistent even factoring in the dim lighting of the club atmosphere,” Schillinger added.
At the request of the magazine, Jonah Wilson, founder of DeepAI, a generative AI video effects startup, reviewed the video
of Curran and Tibbey and came to the same conclusion as Schillinger.
“There are a lot of easily accessible tools to create deepfakes quickly. FaceApp, MyHeritage, Wav2Lip to name a few common
ones frequently used by social media users to jump on generative trends,” Wilson said. “It’s likely whoever manipulated—created,
really—this particular video used a combination of convolutional neural networks and autoencoders for facial recognition and
body movement targeting, superimposing these attributes onto source video, likely of a real couple in a club. But not Cash
Curran and Ashley Tibbey.”
In a formal statement issued on social media, Curran said, “It’s a relief to have my name cleared, but this has been an absolute
nightmare. The harm caused by the creation and spread of this deepfake AI-generated video cannot be understated. I’m not sure
we’ll ever know who created this video and for what reason other than to be malicious, but I worry about what other harm is
going to be caused if this technology continues to go unchecked. Revenge porn, blackmail, false evidence, the spread of political
misinformation, etc. Appropriate legislative action needs to be taken to protect people from exploitation.”
Fans might be wondering if the screenshots of Curran’s Tinder profile were also fabricated. A source at the dating app shared
in a now-deleted TikTok that the profile was real but was a “case of impersonation” and the associated account was shut down.
According to the same source, the account was linked to an IP address in Ventura County, California. Curran does not, nor
has he ever, lived in Ventura County. However, as pointed out by TikTok creator @milesformiles, the Domestic Noir Plot drummer
Ansel Daily purchased a home in Thousand Oaks last year.
At the time of publication, Adair’s rep had not responded to US Weekly’s request for comment.
Victoria @pdxprincess · 15h
As the person who started the hashtag #CashCurranIsCanceled, I hereby declare him uncanceled. #CashCurranIsNoLongerCanceled
ur fav lesbian @imubutgayer · 2h
whoops I take it back. cash curran, baby, no coughing for you #CashCurranIsNoLongerCanceled