Dating shows have always pushed the boundaries of appropriateness to grab our attention. From the extreme plastic surgery competition in Bridalplasty to the deceptive game of Playing It Straight, controversy has plagued the genre for years.
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more prevalent in our lives, it’s not surprising that reality dating shows would incorporate it. Netflix’s Too Hot to Handle penalizes contestants for any sexual acts in a retreat where physical contact is forbidden. In The Circle, players hide behind screens, creating new personas and flirting to win.
While these examples have a low-key Black Mirror-esque vibe, a recently released show takes it to a whole new level. Deep Fake Love (Falso Amor in the original Spanish), a Spanish reality dating series, uses AI in a cruel and heartless manner.
A Prescient Warning Against the Misuse of AI
Deep Fake Love takes AI from a gimmicky tool to a means of making participants suffer. The show revolves around five couples in serious relationships, who voluntarily sign up for a horrifying experience. In the first episode, the couples are split and sent to separate houses filled with eager singles.
Each day, one member of each couple is shown videos of their partner engaging in sexually intimate acts with the singles. Watching their loved ones betray their trust is gut-wrenching, but here’s the twist: the videos may be fake.
Only after the couples are emotionally devastated by the traumatic footage are they informed that the scenarios could be altered using deep fake technology. The game begins, with an enticing €100,000 prize awaiting the couple who can correctly identify the real videos from the fakes.
As viewers, we are given early insight into how the AI alterations are created, with split screens showing innocent interactions on one side and actors engaging in full-blown infidelity on the other. Faces are swapped, offensive words inserted, leaving us stunned by the ruthless use of AI.
A Pointless and Vicious Exploitation
From the first episode, contestants are manipulated into believing that their partners are jeopardizing their relationships. Passionate kissing scenes are fabricated, creating a volatile and emotionally charged atmosphere right from the start.
As the series progresses, the videos become more explicit, using AI to create the illusion of full-on sex. In the end, whether the individuals are cheating or not becomes irrelevant. The psychological damage inflicted on the couples who watch the videos is undeniable. The lines between reality and deception blur, amplifying the pain and confusion.
Unsurprisingly, the misery caused by the fake videos leads participants to succumb to their own desires, further blurring the boundaries between what’s real and what’s fake. By the end of the series, each couple discovers which videos were real, deepening the divide between them.
Deep Fake Love not only inflicts unnecessary psychological damage on the contestants but also sets a grim precedent for the future of AI.
Striking Against the Misuse of AI
This issue is a major concern for SAG-AFTRA in Hollywood and the industry at large. They are fighting for comprehensive provisions to protect human-created work and ensure informed consent and fair compensation when AI is used to alter performers’ likeness, voices, or performances.
The strike aims to prevent writers and actors from being phased out in favor of digital replicas. Deep Fake Love serves as a dangerous example of what the future may hold if AI is misused and human creativity is overshadowed.
Trash TV at Its Worst
While the appetite for extreme dating shows seems insatiable, Deep Fake Love takes it to a new and inhumane level. Life is already challenging, with wildfires and inflation wreaking havoc. So why did this show get the green light?
Uncomfortable viewing may occasionally entertain audiences, especially when rooting for an underdog. However, using deep fakes to destroy relationships as a form of entertainment is callous and harmful, both to the participants and the viewers.
Deep Fake Love is heart-wrenching and an intriguing test of technology’s capabilities. But it should have been left on the cutting room floor or, better yet, never commissioned at all. Its popularity on Netflix is unsurprising, but international versions should be avoided. This show serves as a significant warning about the dangers of exploiting AI in entertainment and real life.
Deep Fake Love is streaming now on Netflix.