Retiring Guy's Digest: Vocabulary lesson: According to Merriam-Webster, the first-known use of “deepfake” occurred in 2018

Deepfake, as in an image or recording that has been convincingly altered and manipulated to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something that was not actually done or said.

Headline: New York Times, 8/14/2024

Steve Beauchamp lost $690,000.

The scammers had edited a genuine interview with Mr. Musk, replacing his voice with a replica using A.I. tools. The A.I. was sophisticated enough that it could alter minute mouth movements to match the new script they had written for the digital fake. To a casual viewer, the manipulation might have been imperceptible.

“I mean, the picture of him — it was him,” Mr. Beauchamp said about the video he saw of Mr. Musk. “Now, whether it was A.I. making him say the things that he was saying, I really don’t know. But as far as the picture, if somebody had said, ‘Pick him out of a lineup,’ that’s him.”

Other coinage from the same year: baloxavir marboxil

More vocabulary lessons:

March-June 2024

Life coach. (6/30)

Face-plant. (6/8)

Veggie. (4/26)

Dox/doxxing (4/11)

Edgelord. (3/23)

Dad joke. 3/4)

February 2024

Edutainment. (2/16)

Cut, as an adjective. (2/13). .