The harm of deepfakes: a scoping review of deepfakes’ negative effects on human mind and behavior

Abstract Deepfakes is a term for content generated by an artificial intelligence (AI) with the intention to be perceived as real. Deepfakes have gained notoriety in their potential misuse in disinformation, propaganda, pornography, defamation, or financial fraud. Despite prominent discussions on the potential harms of deepfakes, empirical evidence on the harms of deepfakes on the human mind remains sparse, wide, and unstructured. This scoping review presents an overview of the research on how deepfakes can negatively affect human mind and behavior. Out of initially 1,143 papers, 28 were included in the scoping review. Several types of harm were identified: Concerns and worries, deception consequences (including false memories, attitude shifts, sharing intention, and false investment choices), mental health harm (including distress, anxiety, reduces self-efficacy, and sexual deepfake victimization), and distrust in media. We conclude that deepfake harm ranges widely and is often hypothetical; hence, empirical investigated of potential harms on human mind and behavior and further methodological refinement to validate current findings is warranted.