Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Contemporary (2000–) ·2017
Deepfake
deep learning fake
- Meaning
- A synthesised video or image made using deep-learning AI to impersonate someone.
- Source words
- deep learning + fake
- Coined by
- Reddit user "deepfakes"
- Year
- 2017
Background
A Reddit user with the handle "deepfakes" posted manipulated videos in 2017; the community name became the technique name. The word has outlasted its etymological specificity — most commercial synthetic-media tools now use transformer models rather than the original deep-learning approach.
Contemporary (2000–)
Faster coinage, faster canonisation. Brexit and podcast both reached the OED within a decade of first use — historically rapid. Social media has made visibility, not invention, the rate-limiting step.
Two words, one coinage.
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