Should I Record (And Publish) my Voice & Face?

I've thought about this a _lot_ over the years and want to capture some of those thoughts for posterity. 💭 📝
In many ways I _wish_ I had just gotten over my fear/procrastination and started recording screencasts _years_ ago.
Then I wouldn't have to be _thinking_ about this ... But here we are and I think it's super important to capture this.

# Should _You_ Record Your Voice & Face?

Before we had children, I thought screencasts with voiceover and face were a no-brainer. ✅
A great way to capture what you learn and share it with others. 📺

But with the rapid development of [`AI`](https://github.com/nelsonic/nelsonic.github.io/issues/733) Deepfakes, I'm increasingly thinking it's a _terrible_ idea to publish your likeness online.
It's only a matter of time before your face and voice can be flawlessly duplicated in realtime. 👤
At that point your whole family is vulnerable to being scammed. 😬

> **Note**: almost _everyone_ has _already voluntarily_ shared enough on various social media platforms ([`Facebook`](https://github.com/dwyl/learn-react/issues/23), [`Instagram`](https://github.com/dwyl/home/issues/29) and [`TikTok`](https://github.com/dwyl/learn-react/issues/23#issuecomment-1310228161) etc.) photos/videos and audio recordings for their likeness to be synthesised by AI. The cat is very much out of the bag! 🐱 👜 🙃
Between `Meta`, `Google`, `Microsoft` and `Apple` which hoover up people's personal data, your voice & face are very much captured. Never mind the insane amount of data captured by the `CCP` via `WeChat` ...
The only question is who _at_ the Mega Tech companies has _access_ to the data and how likely is it that a malicious actor can hack it?

# Snapshot vs. _Current_ Face?

If I record and publish my face _today_ that will be a _snapshot_ of what I look like at a given time.
If a malicious person uses the _snapshot_ as their training data for creating a Deepfake they will create a
fake version that looks like "old" you which is less convincing.
However if the algorithm integrates "aging" or "distress" it could still be convincing to a loved one. 💭

# Voice Changes Less Over Time

Your voice changes over time, but _less_ than your face/appearance.
The attack vector for impersonating you to your loved ones is _far_ more likely to be voice than face.
e.g: the malicious person makes a phone call to your Mother using a script with a decision tree for her responses.
So simply recording a voiceover on your screencast is giving malicious people everything they need to "clone" you.

> **Note**: I can't stand voice messages in a text conversation! 😡
Besides forcing people to waste time listening to audio they can't easily scan, ⏳
they use more bandwidth and consume space on device. 🤦‍♂️
But they are also a high fidelity training data of your voice that _will_ be used against you and your loved ones!
When people send me a voice message I _always_ reply with text.
Voice messages disrespectful because they _waste_ the time of the recipient.
If you send me a voice message you're basically telling me you think _your_ time is worth more than _mine_.
Spoiler alert: it definitely isn't!! The value of my time is in the top `0.1%` and no longer "for sale"; just don't waste it!

# Thoughts?

I'm still leaning towards recording my face & voice for the simple reason that I think the benefits outweigh the _potential_ cost.

## Benefits

Captured learning in a format that can be easily digested (consumed) by others.
Improve your own knowledge/skills by focussing on _teaching_ it.
Exposure as a subject matter expert; useful if you want to gain influence or be hired to do the job.

## Costs

The main cost - besides the money to pay for recording/editing equipment and time - is the _potential_ to be digitally cloned by a malicious person and have your likeness used for criminal activity. That cost is real for celebrities and wealthy people. 😕
But as the AI deepfake technology proliferates (becomes ubiquitous and free) the changes of your likeness/voice being used against you or your family becomes increasingly likely. ⏳

## Deepfakes are _Already_ A Problem! It will Only Get _Much_ Worse ... 😢

https://www.bbc.com/search?q=deepfake

By _far_ the most insidious deepfakes is of _children_.
_Horrible_ people making deepfakes of children to blackmail them ... 😭
As a parent this totally terrifies me and is the biggest reason to protect our children from _any_ social media exposure
and extra careful of sharing photos/videos with family ...

I intend to **train** our **children** to **_not_ trust _any_ digital communication/media**. 🙅
Yes, this will be difficult when they interact with family via FaceTime ... 👪 📱
Will have to figure this out in due course. 💭

But as for recording _myself_ - the topic of this issue - I'm still inclined toward doing it. 🧑‍💻 ⏺️
Simply because, in the scheme of things, I'm a nobody. 👻
Criminals are going to target higher profile people (celebs, sports stars & "influencers" 🤳) and their families
_long_ before they target me/mine. 💭