Hany Farid Explained

Hany Farid
Birth Date:10 February 1966
Birth Place:Mülheim, Germany
Field:Computer vision
Digital forensics
Work Institution:Dartmouth College
UC Berkeley
Alma Mater:University of Rochester
SUNY Albany
University of Pennsylvania
MIT
Doctoral Advisor:Eero Simoncelli
Thesis Title:Range Estimation by Optical Differentiation
Thesis Year:1997
Thesis Url:http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/farid/downloads/publications/dissertation97.pdf
Awards:Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship

Hany Farid (born February 10, 1966) [1] is an American university professor who specializes in the analysis of digital images and the detection of digitally manipulated images such as deepfakes. Farid served as Dean and Head of School for the UC Berkeley School of Information.[2] In addition to teaching, writing, and conducting research, Farid acts as a consultant for non-profits, government agencies, and news organizations. He is the author of the book Photo Forensics (2016).[3]

Education

Farid received his undergraduate degree in computer science and applied mathematics from the University of Rochester in 1989. He earned a M.S. in computer science from SUNY/Albany in 1992. His Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania was awarded in 1997. In 1999, Farid completed a two-year post-doctoral program in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Career

Farid specializes in image analysis and human perception. He has been called the "father" of digital image forensics by NOVA scienceNOW.[4] [5] He is the recipient of a 2006 Guggenheim Fellowship and a 2002 Sloan Fellowship for his work in the field.[6] Farid was named a lifetime fellow of the National Academy of Inventors in 2016.[7] [8]

University positions

In January 2021, Hany Farid was appointed Associate Dean and Head of School for the School of Information. He remains professor at the University of California, Berkeley with a joint appointment in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science and the School of Information. He is also a member of the Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Lab, the Center for Innovation in Vision and Optics, and the Vision Science program.[9]

Prior to joining Berkeley, Farid was the Albert Bradley 1915 Third Century Professor of Computer Science at Dartmouth College[10] and former chair of Dartmouth's Neukom Institute for Computational Science. Farid was well-known at Dartmouth for teaching the college's introductory course on programming and computer science. Joseph Helble, dean of the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth, described Farid as a pioneer in the field of digital forensics. Farid joined Dartmouth's faculty in 1999. He remained at Dartmouth until 2019.[11]

Consulting and media appearances

Farid has consulted for intelligence agencies, news organizations, courts, and scientific journals seeking to authenticate the validity of images.[12] [13] [14] Research shows that humans aren't very good at discriminating between fakes and real photographs.[15] [16] [17] Faked images may be produced for a variety of purposes: deepfakes are often used to fake the identify of a person in pornographic materials.[18] Politically motivated faked images may be used to present disinformation and hate speech, and to undermine the credibility of media, government and elections.[19] Authenticating figures in scientific publications is critically important because graphics programs, such as Photoshop, are frequently used to crop and to label figures. Such manipulations can be used to alter, disguise, and falsify the data.[20]

In a series of papers in 2009, 2010 and 2015, after digitally analyzing a photograph of Lee Harvey Oswald holding a rifle and newspaper, Farid concluded [21] [22] that "the photo almost certainly was not altered".[23] When the 2013 World Press Photo of the Year was alleged as being a "fake" composite work, Farid spoke out against the allegation and criticized the underlying method of error level analysis.[24] In 2020, Farid and Matyáš Boháček trained a computer model to detect fake videos of Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.[25] [26] [27]

As of 2018, Farid was a consultant for the Associated Press, Reuters, The New York Times, and the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency.

PhotoDNA

PhotoDNA is a system that uses robust hashing technology Farid worked on with Microsoft, which is "now widely used by Internet companies to stop the spread of content showing sexual exploitation or pornography involving children." In late 2015, Farid completed improvements to PhotoDNA that made it capable of analyzing video and audio files besides still images. In 2016, Farid proposed that the technology could be used to stem the spread of terror-related imagery, but there was little interest shown initially by social media companies.[28] In December 2016, Facebook, Twitter, Google and Microsoft announced plans to use PhotoDNA to tackle extremist content such as terrorist recruitment videos or violent terrorist imagery.[29]

Counter Extremism Project

In June 2016, Farid, as a senior advisor to the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), unveiled a software tool for use by Internet and social media companies to "quickly find and eliminate extremist content used to spread and incite violence and attacks." It functions similarly to PhotoDNA.[30] [31] [32] To operationalize this new technology to combat extremism, Farid and CEP proposed the creation of a National Office for Reporting Extremism (NORex), which would house a comprehensive database of extremist content and function similar to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children .[33] [34]

Truepic

In the fall of 2018, Truepic acquired Farid's start-up, Fourandsix Technologies. Farid started Fourandsix Technologies with Kevin Connor, a former vice president at Adobe Systems. The first product released by Fourandsix was called Fourmatch. Fourmatch was designed to detect alterations of digital images. The primary use of Fourmatch was to check the authenticity of images introduced as evidence in court.[35]

As of February 2019, Farid was an advisor to Truepic.[36] The underlying idea behind the Truepic approach is to automatically verify a photo when it is taken, with camera-based apps that assess the image using proprietary algorithms. Later versions of the image can be compared against the original to detect alteration. If this type of verification technology becomes an industry standard, it could help news and social media websites, insurers and others to automatically screen images they receive.[37]

Personal life

Farid was born to Egyptian parents in Germany.[38] He grew up in Rochester, New York. He is married to the neuroscientist Emily Cooper. Cooper, also a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, studies human vision and virtual reality.[39] Cooper met Farid when he spent a sabbatical from Dartmouth at Berkeley.[40]

Publications

Books

Selected technical papers

Selected opinion pieces

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/141881/Preventing%20and%20Countering%20Radicalisation_overview%20biography.pdf
  2. Web site: Hany Farid Appointed Associate Dean and Head of School . Jan 15, 2021 . UC Berkeley School of Information. UC Berkeley . 3 April 2021.
  3. Book: Staff . Photo Forensics-+9 . 4 November 2016 . The MIT Press . 9780262035347 . 23 August 2019.
  4. Web site: Profile: Hany Farid at NOVA scienceNOW. June 2008. PBS. 21 January 2010.
  5. Web site: Photography as a Weapon . Morris. Errol. Errol Morris . August 11, 2008. The New York Times. 21 January 2010.
  6. Web site: Hany Farid - John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. 2006. 21 January 2010. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110604010416/http://www.gf.org/fellows/4380-hany-farid. 4 June 2011.
  7. Web site: Blumberg . Joseph . Hany Farid Honored by the National Academy of Inventors . Dartmouth News . Office of Communications, Dartmouth College . 23 August 2019.
  8. Web site: Fellows List . National Academy of Inventors . 23 August 2019 . 21 June 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190621181233/https://academyofinventors.org/wp/skin/search-fellows.php . dead .
  9. Web site: Craypo . Eric . Professor Hany Farid Joins Vision Science Faculty . Berkeley Vision Science . UC Berkeley . 23 August 2019.
  10. Web site: Featured Faculty Member: Hany Farid. UC Berkeley School of Information. en. 2019-08-06.
  11. News: Mihaly . Abigail . Computer science professor Hany Farid to leave College for Berkeley . 12 August 2019 . The Dartmouth . 23 April 2018.
  12. Web site: Proving That Seeing Shouldn't Always Be Believing. Dreifus. Claudia. October 2, 2007. The New York Times. 21 January 2010.
  13. Web site: Anwar, Eskay Seen At Apartment Lobby. . 2011-06-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110630002548/http://mynewshub.my/2011/06/24/anwar-eskay-seen-at-apartment-lobby/ . 2011-06-30 . dead .
  14. http://www.anwaraidc.com/?p=13133 US Experts Confirmed Anwar as Man in Video, Court Told.
  15. Farid . Hany . Image Forensics . Annual Review of Vision Science . 15 September 2019 . 5 . 1 . 549–573 . 10.1146/annurev-vision-091718-014827 . 31525144 . 202642073 . 21 December 2022 . en . 2374-4642.
  16. News: Pierre-Louis . Kendra . You're probably terrible at spotting faked photos . 20 December 2022 . Popular Science . 19 July 2017.
  17. Nightingale . Sophie J. . Wade . Kimberley A. . Watson . Derrick G. . Can people identify original and manipulated photos of real-world scenes? . Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications . 18 July 2017 . 2 . 1 . 30 . 10.1186/s41235-017-0067-2 . 28776002 . 5514174 . 2365-7464. free .
  18. Westerlund . Mika . The Emergence of Deepfake Technology: A Review . Technology Innovation Management Review . 2019 . 9 . 11 . 39–52 . 10.22215/timreview/1282 . 214014129 . en . 1927-0321. free .
  19. Pawelec . Maria . Deepfakes and Democracy (Theory): How Synthetic Audio-Visual Media for Disinformation and Hate Speech Threaten Core Democratic Functions . Digital Society . September 2022 . 1 . 2 . 19 . 10.1007/s44206-022-00010-6 . 36097613 . 9453721 . free .
  20. News: Dreifus . Claudia . Digital forensics: Proving that seeing shouldn't always be believing . 20 December 2022 . The New York Times . 3 October 2007.
  21. News: Wen . Tiffanie . The hidden signs that can reveal a fake photo . 20 December 2022 . BBC Future . 9 June 2020 . en.
  22. 10.1068/p6580 . Perception . Farid, H . 2009 . The Lee Harvey Oswald backyard photos: real or fake? . 1731–1734 . 38 . 11 . 20120271 . 12062689 . 20 December 2022.
  23. News: Professor finds that iconic Oswald photo was not faked (w/ Video) . 20 December 2022 . phys.org . November 5, 2009 . en.
  24. News: 'Fake' World Press Photo isn't fake, is lesson in need for forensic restraint . Ian . Steadman . . 2013-05-16 . 2015-09-11.
  25. News: Hsu . Jeremy . Deepfake detector spots fake videos of Ukraine's president Zelenskyy . 20 December 2022 . New Scientist . 7 December 2022.
  26. News: Allyn . Bobby . Deepfake video of Zelenskyy could be 'tip of the iceberg' in info war, experts warn . 20 December 2022 . NPR . 16 March 2022 . en.
  27. Boháček . Matyáš . Farid . Hany . Protecting world leaders against deep fakes using facial, gestural, and vocal mannerisms . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 29 November 2022 . 119 . 48 . e2216035119 . 10.1073/pnas.2216035119 . 36417442 . 9860138 . 2022PNAS..11916035B . en . 0027-8424.
  28. News: Waddell. Kveh. A Tool to Delete Beheading Videos Before They Even Appear Online. 10 September 2016. The Atlantic. June 22, 2016.
  29. News: Partnering to Help Curb Spread of Online Terrorist Content Facebook Newsroom. 2016-12-06.
  30. News: June 17, 2016 . Software unveiled to tackle online extremism, violence . AFP . November 18, 2016 . October 5, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161005102024/https://www.yahoo.com/news/software-unveiled-tackle-online-extremism-violence-180014703.html . dead .
  31. News: June 22, 2016 . A Tool to Delete Beheading Videos Before They Even Appear Online . The Atlantic .
  32. News: June 17, 2016 . Suppressing Extremist Speech: There's an Algorithm for That! . Foreign Policy .
  33. News: June 21, 2016 . There's a new tool to take down terrorism images online. But social-media companies are wary of it. . Ellen . Nakashima . The Washington Post .
  34. News: June 17, 2016 . How to Stop the Next Viral Jihadi Video . Defense One .
  35. News: Shankland . Stephen . Fourandsix releases image-authenticator software . 13 August 2019 . CNET . 18 September 2012.
  36. News: McCorvey . J.J. . This image-authentication startup is combating faux social media accounts, doctored photos, deep fakes, and more . 13 August 2019 . Fast Company . 19 February 2019.
  37. News: Hao . Karen . Deepfake-busting apps can spot even a single pixel out of place . 21 December 2022 . MIT Technology Review . November 1, 2018 . en.
  38. https://www.albany.edu/ualbanymagazine/fall2017_farid-father-of-digital-forensics.shtml#:~:text=Farid%20was%20born%20to%20Egyptian,%2C%20admittedly%2C%20a%20mediocre%20student.
  39. Rothman . Joshua . In the Age of A.I., Is Seeing Still Believing? . 13 August 2019 . The New Yorker . 5 November 2018.
  40. Web site: Henderson . Rachel . PhD program alum Emily Cooper returns to Berkeley as faculty, studying vision in the real world and applying it to virtual worlds . Berkeley Neuroscience . 28 November 2018 . Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute . 23 August 2019.
  41. Web site: Hany Farid - Dartmouth Faculty Directory. Dartmouth College. 21 January 2010. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20100627092111/http://dfd.dartmouth.edu/directory/show/350. 27 June 2010.

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