Lucas Whittaker is a PhD Candidate at the Centre for Behavioural Economics, Society and Technology (BEST Centre) at the Queensland University of Technology. His research focuses on the application of synthetic media such as ‘deepfakes’ within marketing contexts and psychological factors which may influence consumer appraisal of such media.

Recent advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning have given rise to the deepfake, a method of creating highly realistic yet inauthentic digital audio, images, and videos. For marketers, deepfakes present new opportunities for customer value creation and engagement, but factors such as the level of realism inherent in the media and the presence of disclosure may influence consumer appraisal. Cognitive biases and predispositions to modes of information processing may also influence how deepfakes are perceived.  Lucas’ PhD conceptually and empirically explores such factors pertaining to deepfakes and the wider implications of such synthetic media for marketing.

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