Definition
“A deepfake is synthetic audio, video, or image content generated by artificial intelligence to make a real person appear to say or do something they never actually did.”
At a glance
- AI fakes a real person’s face or voice, learned from photos, videos, or audio found online[2].
- For businesses, the top threat is impersonation fraud: a faked boss or vendor pressuring staff to send money or share access.
- U.S. deepfake fraud losses hit about $1.1 billion in 2025, more than triple the prior year[3].
- Best defense is low-tech: verify urgent money or data requests through a separate, pre-agreed channel.
Why it matters
The real risk is fraud, not celebrity hoaxes. In 2024 a finance worker at engineering firm Arup wired about $25 million after a video call where the CFO and colleagues were all AI deepfakes[1]. Average loss per business incident runs near $500,000[5], and the fakes are now good enough to fool people live.
How to protect your business
Make it a rule no one can skip: no transfer on a single call or email, treat urgency and secrecy as red flags, and use multi-factor authentication.
Bottom line
You can’t reliably spot deepfakes by looking or listening harder, so beat them with process: verify every urgent money or data request through a second, known channel.