The source image I used for making Fauci deepfakes. Credit: AP
It was a rainy day, and my girlfriend was away, so I was quite bored. I saw a competition on infowars for the funniest covid video, with a $10,000 prize. I'm not a pro at either videos or comedy, but it sure looked like fun! Besides, I'd been meaning to play around with deepfake tech, which can be quite funny.
I didn't have much time, since the deadline was 48 hours from then, so I researched fast and free deepfake software to try. While there were much more robust options available, wombo looked like a good combination of fast, free, and easy. So I downloaded the mobile app, and began creating my first deepfakes.
As far as wombo goes, the best I can say is that it worked and didn't completely brick my phone. I was able to create 4 deepfakes using wombo, but it did some very strange things to my phone, and it isn't back to normal even after uninstalling. Furthermore, the app didn't work the second time I opened it (frozen). I really cannot recommend installing it.
I was able to select from a few hundred songs to make my fake Fauci sing, and I tried to pick the most ironic and funny ones. I picked four:
Finally, the most advanced feature wombo offered was a "combo" or a duet, with two pictures interacting with each other. For this, I elected to re-enact the famous confrontations between Fauci and Sen. Rand Paul.
I have to say, I think this one is my favorite. It is clearly a more complex task than the others, and therefore the result is more impressive.
None of the deepfakes were really convincing, but I sure had fun making them! I hope you all have fun watching, as well.
