Clarity secures $16m to combat deepfakes

Deepfake technology is advancing rapidly, raising concerns about the spread of misinformation and fake content. According to recent surveys, a significant number of Americans encounter altered videos and images intended to mislead. The rise of deepfakes poses a significant challenge to maintaining the authenticity of news and media content.

Various companies, including Clarity, Reality Defender, and Sentinel, are developing tools to detect and combat deepfakes. These tools utilize AI models to identify patterns in manipulated media and offer solutions such as watermarking to verify the authenticity of content.

Clarity, founded by Michael Matias and his team, focuses on rapid response to evolving deepfake techniques, treating them as cybersecurity threats. Despite the ongoing arms race against deepfakes, Clarity has attracted substantial investment and expanded its client base to include news publishers, government agencies, and large enterprises.

Despite advancements in deepfake detection, achieving perfect precision remains a challenge due to the rapid improvement of deepfake-generating technologies like GenAI apps. To counter this, major players like Google, Microsoft, and AWS are turning to more sophisticated measures such as watermarking and provenance metadata, although these methods are not foolproof.

However, Clarity has seen significant support in its endeavors. The New York-based startup recently secured a $16 million seed funding round, indicating strong backing from investors like Walden Catalyst Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners. Clarity has found its niche, initially targeting customers in news publishing and the public sector, including the Israeli government. Its services have since expanded to include identity verification providers and other large enterprises.