AI Governance Engineer
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Deepfake

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Under the EU AI Act, a deep fake is AI-generated or manipulated image, audio or video content that resembles existing persons, objects, places, entities or events and would falsely appear to a person to be authentic; deployers must disclose it, with lighter duties for evident art or satire 1.

Developed in
ch. 20, Deepfakes and synthetic media
ch. 18, Transparency cases (Article 50)
Chapters
ch. 18, EU AI Act · ch. 20, Existing Law
Contrast with
Content provenance (C2PA)
Source
1 numbered reference, listed below

Where it is used

4 chapters of the Body of Knowledge use the term. Each link opens the first section that does.

Deepfake: mentions per chapter10 mentions of the term across 4 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Cross-referenced chapterOther chapter08 Regulatory Map: 1 mention08 Regulatory Map118 EU AI Act: 4 mentions18 EU AI Act420 Existing Law: 3 mentions20 Existing Law321 AI Laws Worldwide: 2 mentions21 AI Laws Worldwide2No mentions in the other 19 chaptersSource: the Body of Knowledgev0.5.0
Deepfake: mentions per chapter10 mentions of the term across 4 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Cross-referenced chapterOther chapter000102030405060708 Regulatory Map: 1 mention108101112131415161718 EU AI Act: 4 mentions4181920 Existing Law: 3 mentions32021 AI Laws Worldwide: 2 mentions2212223Source: the Body of Knowledge v0.5.0
Mentions per chapter How often each chapter names the term, with the chapters the glossary cross-references drawn solid. The longest bar is where to read the term in use; bars spread across many chapters mark a term that runs through the discipline.
Mentions as a table
Mentions of Deepfake per chapter
ChapterMentionsCross-referenced
00 Preface0No
01 Definition0No
02 Why Now0No
03 Values & Principles0No
04 The Stack0No
05 Patterns0No
06 The Role0No
07 Maturity Model0No
08 Regulatory Map1No
10 Reading List0No
11 AI Defined0No
12 Governance Program0No
13 Risk Management0No
14 Development0No
15 Deployment0No
16 Fairness & XAI0No
17 Incidents0No
18 EU AI Act4Yes
19 Privacy & AI0No
20 Existing Law3Yes
21 AI Laws Worldwide2No
22 Principles & Standards0No
23 AI Agents0No

Patterns that use this term

One pattern page uses the term.

Deepfake: related terms and patternsThe term at the centre; related terms on solid edges, the terms it is contrasted with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer.RelatedContrastColour: stack layer of the pattern05 AssuranceDeepfakeRelated terms (3)AI Act (EU) · RelatedAI Act (EU)Deployer · RelatedDeployerWatermarking · RelatedWatermarkingContrast with (1)Content provenance (C2PA) · ContrastContent provenance (C2PA)Patterns using it (1)Disclosure & Notification Pipeline, 1 mention · Uses the termDisclosure & Notification…
Deepfake: related terms and patternsThe term at the centre; related terms on solid edges, the terms it is contrasted with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer.RelatedContrastColour: stack layer of the pattern05 AssuranceRelated terms (3)AI Act (EU) · RelatedAI Act (EU)Deployer · RelatedDeployerWatermarking · RelatedWatermarkingContrast with (1)Content provenance (C2PA) · ContrastContent provenance (C2PA)Patterns using it (1)Disclosure & Notification Pipeline, 1 mention · Uses the termDisclosure & Notification…Deepfake
The term's neighbourhood Terms related to this one on solid edges, terms it is often confused with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer. Follow a dashed edge to check the distinction before you use either term.
Neighbourhood as a table
Neighbourhood of Deepfake
FamilyItemRelation
Related termsAI Act (EU)Related
Related termsDeployerRelated
Related termsWatermarkingRelated
Contrast withContent provenance (C2PA)Contrast
Patterns using itDisclosure & Notification Pipeline, 1 mentionUses the term
  • Watermarking

    Embedding a signal in generated content (image, audio, video or text) that a detector can later read to identify it as AI-generated.

  • AI Act (EU)

    Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, the EU's horizontal, risk-tiered law for AI, amended by the Digital Omnibus.

  • Deployer

    Under the EU AI Act, whoever uses an AI system under its own authority, other than in a purely personal, non-professional activity.

Sources

  1. [1] Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), consolidated text as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 (Digital Omnibus on AI, in force 27 Jul 2026; definitions in Art. 3, incl. 3(1), 3(3) to 3(14), 3(14b), 3(20), 3(22), 3(23), 3(29) to 3(32), 3(49), 3(55) to 3(57), 3(60), 3(61), 3(63), 3(68); Arts. 4, 5, 6 (incl. 6(3) third subparagraph, profiling), 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 22 to 27 (incl. 26(11)), 40, 41, 43, 47, 48, 50, 53 (incl. 53(1)(c)), 55, 57, 60, 72, 73, 86; Annexes I, III, IV). Publications Office of the EU (EUR-Lex). 2026-07-27. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/2026-07-27/eng (verified: primary)

Definitions of legal terms paraphrase the cited text, which governs. Dated statements are as of .

Cite this term

García Aibar, J. (2026). Deepfake. In AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis & Body of Knowledge (v0.5.0), Glossary. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197. https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/deepfake. CC BY 4.0

BibTeX

@misc{aige2026deepfake,
  author  = {Jorge García Aibar},
  title   = {{Deepfake}},
  note    = {Glossary, AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis \& Body of Knowledge, version 0.5.0},
  year    = {2026},
  doi     = {10.5281/zenodo.22956197},
  url     = {https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/deepfake}
}