Bo Zhao will be presenting “Deep Fake geography? A humanistic GIS Reflection upon Geospatial Artificial Intelligence” at the next GeoBytes webinar on Friday, May 27 at 12:00 pm ET. The webinar is FREE for all CaGIS members. See attached abstract for more information about the presentation.
Please see the CaGIS GeoBytes page for more information on registering.
Abstract
The ongoing development of Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI) has raised deep concerns about the emergence of deep fake geography and its potentials in transforming the human perception of the geographic world (Zhao et al 2021). This seminar presents a humanistic GIS reflection upon GeoAI (Zhao 2022) and its social implications using an empirical study that dissected the algorithmic mechanism of falsifying satellite images with non-existent landscape features. To demonstrate our pioneering attempt at deep fake detection, a robust approach is then proposed and evaluated. Our proactive study warns of the emergence and proliferation of deep fakes in geography just as “lies” in maps. We suggest timely detections of deep fakes in geospatial data and proper coping strategies when necessary. More importantly, it is encouraged to cultivate critical geospatial data literacy and thus to understand the multi-faceted impacts of deep fake geography on individuals and human society.
Bo Zhao is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Washington, Seattle. His recent research interests include GIScience, geographical misinformation, and social implications of emerging GIS technologies, especially in the context of the United States or China.