Advances in artificial intelligence have made it easier than ever to generate convincing synthetic audio, images, and video, blurring the line between what is real and what is fabricated. Dubbed “deepfakes” to reflect fake media that is difficult to distinguish from the real thing, these technologies span the entire spectrum from political misinformation to personal harassment, posing new challenges for individuals and society alike. How do these systems work? What risks do they introduce for trust, safety, and democracy? And what tools - technical, legal, or educational - can help us defend against their misuse? Join us for a conversation with experts in AI and sociotechnical systems as we discuss the growing impact of deepfakes and explore strategies to respond to them.

When: January 23, 2026, 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Where: Ann Arbor District Library, Downtown location
Room: 1st Floor Lobby

Panelists: Rada Mihalcea, Khalid Malik, Cliff Lampe

Rada Mihalcea is the Janice M. Jenkins Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan and the Director of the Michigan Artificial Intelligence Lab. Her research interests are in natural language processing, with a focus on multimodal processing and computational social sciences. She is an ACM Fellow, a AAAI Fellow, and served as ACL President (2018-2022 Vice/Past). She is the recipient of a Sarah Goddard Power award (2019) for her contributions to diversity in science, and the recipient of a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers awarded by President Obama (2009).

Dr. Khalid M. Malik is a Professor of Computer Science and Director of Cybersecurity at the College of Innovation and Technology, University of Michigan–Flint, and the co-founder of ProbeTruth. His research focuses on the integrated areas of AI, healthcare, and information security to design secure, intelligent, and decentralized decision support systems by employing multimodal, federated, trustworthy, and neuro-symbolic AI. In cybersecurity, his work emphasizes developing forensic examiners for assessing the authenticity, integrity, and veracity of audio, video, and image content, including deepfake detection. In healthcare, his focus includes predicting cerebrovascular and cardiovascular events using clinical text and multiple medical imaging modalities (e.g., DSA, MRA). Dr. Malik’s research is supported by multiple National Science Foundation awards, the Brain Aneurysm Foundation, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the Michigan Translational Research and Commercialization Innovation Hub, and various local and global industry partners. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including Oakland’s Young Investigator Research Award (2018), the SECS Outstanding Research Award (2019), and the Distinguished Associate Professor Award (2021).

Cliff Lampe is a professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan, where he also serves as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. His research explores the social and technical structures of large-scale technology-mediated communication, with projects that range from the harms and benefits of social media to the use of information technology to help cities engage with the people who live in them. Cliff is a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery, recognizing his contributions to the field. Cliff is widely recognized for his commitment to combining rigorous research with meaningful community engagement, an emphasis that is paramount in his career.