The Third Edit: Deepfakes — fraud or the future?

The spectre of deepfakes is looming over the UK university system. Enroly, a software product used by several universities in Great Britain to automate part of the application process, is being haunted by what it has called the “future of fraud”. In the interviews, applicants are posed a series of random questions. Enroly’s platform is reportedly used to screen international applicants as a part of issuing their confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) certificate — a prerequisite for issuing student visas. Among other things, the system looks at “suitability” and the ability to communicate in English. That’s where the deepfakes come in.

A small number of those aspiring to study in the UK have attempted to use deepfake versions of themselves to record their answers. But perhaps the “fraud” speaks of larger issues. A large-scale study by the University of Northumbria in 2022 found that “accentism” is widely prevalent in the UK. How an aspirant pronounces their consonants and rounds out their vowels, then, can be a real advantage or disadvantage at workplaces and in university acceptances. Given this, an argument could be made that using a digital avatar that resembles oneself is a social mobility prosthetic. Since so much communication is now online, what is labelled the “future of fraud” might just be the future of digital interaction.