In deep(fake) water? Online news media framing of artificial intelligence technology

Recent technological advances in the field of artificial intelligence have given rise to the phenomenon of deepfake technology, which involves the creation of fake, yet highly realistic digital content, mostly videos. Since this technology is still new, studies investigating deepfakes are still relatively rare. Therefore, this project provides an interesting contribution to the literature on framing and social imaginaries. The overall aim of this study is to investigate how online news media frame deepfake technology through a qualitative content analysis (CQA). The content analysis of several major online news platforms allowed for the emergence of four prominent frames across the data: the future frame, the threat frame, the responsibility frame, and the corporate frame. Firstly, the future frame reveals that journalists tend to frame deepfake technology in relation to the future through hypothetical scenarios and questions. Secondly, the threat frame involves the tendency of online news media to present deepfake technology as a significant threat or risk to society through associations of words and metaphors. Third, the responsibility frame presents deepfake technology as a ‘wicked problem’, as a result (implicit) questions are raised in online news media about which actor(s) should take responsibility for deepfakes. This study found that law- and policymakers and tech corporations are especially mentioned as important actors to solve the deepfake ‘problem’ across several domains, such as pornography. Fourth, the corporate frame highlights the tendency of online news media to highlight the impact that deepfake technology has/will have on economic processes. This impact is proposed to be optimistic and positive for the purpose of growth, optimization, and development of businesses. Lastly, the study revealed that journalists fail to include relevant deepfake news stories from non-Western countries, which indicates that knowledge production and framing in online news media suppresses certain perspectives and reinforces existing power structures.