The confidence-competence gap on deepfake detection is the more operationally significant finding here than the raw detection rate. When 80 per cent of people believe they can spot deepfakes but only 25 per cent actually can, awareness campaigns that focus on teaching visual tells are likely making the problem worse by increasing false confidence without improving actual detection accuracy. CSA's upcoming campaign will need to shift the message from "here is how to spot a deepfake" to "assume you cannot reliably spot one and verify through out-of-band channels instead."
The confidence-competence gap on deepfake detection is the more operationally significant finding here than the raw detection rate. When 80 per cent of people believe they can spot deepfakes but only 25 per cent actually can, awareness campaigns that focus on teaching visual tells are likely making the problem worse by increasing false confidence without improving actual detection accuracy. CSA's upcoming campaign will need to shift the message from "here is how to spot a deepfake" to "assume you cannot reliably spot one and verify through out-of-band channels instead."