Jackpot

8

When the steaks were gone and the last round of Knob Creek finished, Stone and Dino decided against dessert. Stone called his driver to take them to the airport early, leaving Teddy by himself. He went back to the suite and saw a note from Stone on the coffee table letting him know that a friend had called about a movie and that Teddy would know how to get ahold of him.

“Me again,” Teddy said when Kevin answered.

“I’d love to ask about where you are and what you’re doing there, but even secure lines like this can have extra ears, so I’ll keep my opinions to myself.”

“Not your opinions about the video I sent, though,” Teddy said.

“These aren’t opinions. These are facts.”

“I appreciate your confidence in your abilities and knowledge.”

“What you sent me is something they call a deepfake video,” Kevin said.

“It looked very real to me and everyone who saw it,” Teddy said.

“That’s the ‘deep’ part of deepfake.”

“How do they create them? Is it animation? Artificial intelligence?”

“I’m not a video guy. I don’t know the hows and such of these things, but my sense is that most of it is composed of real video and then certain key elements, like faces, are replaced.”

“Like special effects in movies?” Teddy asked.

“Exactly. Until recently they’ve mostly been used to put famous actresses’ faces on other women’s bodies in adult movies, but now the bad guys are looking for ways to use them to bring down governments.”

“Can you tell me who made it?”

“Eventually.”

“I don’t have time for eventually. Eventually I can find out on my own. I call you when I need things right now.”

“I didn’t know that speed was the only thing I brought to the table,” Kevin said.

“Oh for crying out loud,” Teddy said.

“Sometimes you can’t rush quality.”

Teddy bit his tongue. He was confident he could find out what he needed without Kevin’s help, but it would take longer than Teddy was comfortable with, especially trying to do it in a foreign country he hadn’t been to for many years.

“I haven’t slept in a very long time. I apologize if I was harsh,” Teddy said.

“Why haven’t you been sleeping? Do you have insomnia?”

“I’ve been traveling a lot for work across different time zones and I keep getting called back into action. I’ll be fine and you’ll be fine. Just call me when you have more information on the video.”

“Fine.”

“Hey, if you didn’t have any answers then why’d you call?”

“To tell you that what you have is a deepfake video,” Kevin said.

“That’s it?”

“That’s huge. A video like this one isn’t just a goof cooked up by kids in a garage. It’s a big deal.”

“Okay,” Teddy said.

“There are only a few people who can do this kind of stuff with this level of realism, and they don’t ever do it for fun. They do it to cause massive harm. I’ll call back when I know more.”