u3a

Redbridge & District

Deepfakes demystified: understanding the risks and staying safe

Event type: National and Regional Zoom Events
Date: Friday 14th August 2026
Time: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Venue: Zoom
Organiser:
The Third Age Trust
Cost: Free
Booking: Note that booking is required.

We will cover what deepfakes are, how they are made, and the growing threat as the tools have grown cheap and widely available.

Artificial intelligence can now fabricate video, audio and images convincingly enough that most people can no longer tell real from fake by eye alone. This session, led by Ashmita Rajmohan of the Deep Truth Project (deeptruthproject.org), is a clear and practical guide to what that means in everyday life.

We will cover what deepfakes are, how they are made, and why they have become a growing threat as the tools have grown cheap and widely available. Drawing on recent UK cases, we will examine how deepfakes are being used both in political and health disinformation, as well as in fraud, ranging from cloned-voice "family emergency" calls to romance and investment scams.

You will leave with a working toolkit: how to verify what you see, sensible steps to protect yourself and your family, the legal protections that now exist in the UK, and exactly what to do, and who to contact, if you or someone you know is ever targeted.


Speaker biography:

Ashmita Rajmohan leads the Deep Truth Project (deeptruthproject.org), a charity promoting deepfake and synthetic media literacy in the UK. She also hosts The Deepfake Dialogues, a podcast exploring the societal implications of the technology.

Register here