Michael Grothaus is a novelist and journalist. Having got his start over 20 years ago writing for Screen, his work has since appeared in Fast Company, VICE, the Guardian, Litro Magazine, The Irish Times, Quartz, and others. His debut novel Epiphany Jones, a story about the alienating aspects of the internet and sex trafficking among the Hollywood elite, was longlisted for the John Creasy New Blood Dagger Award in 2017. Trust No One is his first non-fiction book.
A clear, readable rundown of how deepfakes are changing our world * The Sunday Times * The page-turner of a book stresses that deepfakes are a ticking timebomb and that we, the public, need to educate ourselves before we herald in a zero-trust society where seeing is no longer believing... If you're looking for a greater understanding of the wild world of deepfakes, how they are created, their benefits and harms as well as their stomach-churning implications; Trust No One is a great place to start. * Reaction * Michael Grothaus takes a hard look at the growth of deep fakes, examining cases that demonstrate the threats presented by morally dubious creators. From the personal to political, the impact of deep fakes is considered carefully by Grothaus, both on the victims and on society as a whole, creating an essential picture of a growing trend in disinformation. -- Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellincat Thought-provoking . . . he interviews some shady characters and raises interesting questions * Mail On Sunday * An alarming look at deepfakes. * The Sunday Times * Our relationship with visual representations of ourselves always runs along this axis of narcissism and dread: at once promising a defeat of death, but by arousing that desire only to disappoint it, crushingly reinforcing its inevitability. Our fascination with deepfakes strikes me as the latest iteration of this emotional rollercoaster, and it's one Grothaus captures very well. -- Peter Pomerantsev * The Guardian *