The internet is freaking out over a video of Tom Cruise golfing.
Because it’s not really Tom Cruise.
The ultra-realistic video posted to TikTok by user @deeptomcruise is actually a deepfake – a form of synthetic media that has been manipulated with machine learning algorithms to appear real.
The shockingly realistic video has racked up over 8 million views on TikTok so far, and has fooled countless people into believing the video shows the real Tom Cruise taking some swings on the course.
Some were even questioning whether the videos were so realistic that they’re actually a violation of TikTok’s terms of service that prevent misleading forgeries. But the app says that because the account’s name is @deeptomcruise, that’s enough of a giveaway to users that the videos are fake.
The account has posted two other videos so far, with one showing the fake Tom Cruise performing a magic trick and one showing a stumbling Tom Cruise discussing a meeting with former leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev.
The videos were created by a visual video effects specialist from Belgium, Chris Ume, who took credit for the deepfakes on his LinkedIn account.
And it’s not the first time Ume has created a deepfake video of Cruise.
Last year, a video created by Ume was posted that featured a Tom Cruise impersonator’s face morphing into a deepfake of the “real” Cruise.
This shit is wild.
At this point, these deepfakes are pretty much indistinguishable from the real thing. Sure, there are a few blips – in the golf video, his glasses briefly disappear while he’s putting them back on, and his voice isn’t quite the same as the real Tom Cruise.
But even deepfake experts are calling the videos some of the most realistic yet, with expert Henry Adjer saying that Ume’s videos are “in the top 5% of deepfakes out there in terms of quality.”
So what’s next for deepfake technology? Will we start getting new videos of dead celebrities? Will somebody make a version of Kane Brown that actually sings country music?
Who knows, but with quality like this, it seems like anything is possible at this point.
