Altered Pelosi video spotlights new front in disinformation war

Video of a speech by Nancy Pelosi went viral after it was altered to make the House Speaker appear intoxicated, showing the growing risk of accepting what you see online at face value and highlighting a trend with the potential to disrupt the 2020 presidential election.

The footage, taken from an event at the Center for American Progress, was slowed so the California Democrat appeared to be slurring her words. While backlash was swift, the proliferation of views — more than 2.8 million on Facebook — spotlighted the power of “deepfakes,” videos and images digitally altered using artificial intelligence.