In this episode of ODSC’s Ai X Podcast, we speak with Ben Colman, who is the CEO and Co-Founder of Reality Defender, an award-winning deepfake detection platform helping enterprises flag fraudulent users and content. Over the past 15 years, Ben has scaled multiple companies at the intersection of cybersecurity and data science.

Our discussion will go in-depth into the realm of deepfakes, including real-time deepfakes, fake phone calls, and how the everyday person is at risk of being scammed by deepfakes.

Questions:

1. Tell me a bit more about yourself and your background.

2. Why did you create Reality Defender? What spurred your passion here?

3. Generative AI has been a huge proponent of deepfakes - can you tell us a bit more about the current state of deepfakes and Gen AI?

4. If we don’t address deepfakes now, what are some major issues we could face?

5. Can you give some examples of how deepfakes have caused problems?

6. How has Reality Defender addressed deepfakes? Can you provide some examples or case studies?

7. How can the everyday person - aka someone not AI or data science savvy - protect themselves from deepfakes?

8. Why should the everyday person be concerned about deepfakes?

9. What’s the current state of political regulation around deepfakes? Do you think elected officials are doing enough? I read that you spoke to a Senate Committee in April about this, so I’m guessing you’re passionate here too?

10. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Show Notes:

Reality Defender:

- Website: ⁠https://www.realitydefender.com/⁠

- Jobs board: ⁠https://www.realitydefender.com/open-positions⁠

- Blog: ⁠https://www.realitydefender.com/blog⁠

Ben Colman:

- Reality Defender bio: ⁠https://www.realitydefender.com/team-members/ben-colman⁠

- LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/benpcolman/⁠

In the news:

- Ben’s Congressional testimony summary: ⁠https://www.realitydefender.com/blog/ben-colmans-congressional-testimony-on-election-deepfakes⁠

- Congressional testimony full video: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iodylhNdcU⁠

- Funding round: ⁠https://techcrunch.com/2023/10/17/reality-defender-raises-15m-to-detect-text-video-and-image-deepfakes/⁠

This episode was sponsored by:  

Ai+ Training https://aiplus.training/ 

Home to hundreds of hours of on-demand, self-paced AI training, ODSC interviews, free webinars, and certifications in in-demand skills like LLMs and Prompt Engineering

And created in partnership with ODSC https://odsc.com/ 

The Leading AI Training Conference, featuring expert-led, hands-on workshops, training sessions, and talks on cutting-edge AI topics and tools, from data science and machine learning to generative AI to LLMOps

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