Fatima Anwar

Researcher, Filmmaker, Lawyer

WITNESS

Fatima Anwar is a Pakistani researcher, filmmaker, and lawyer. She currently serves as the Press and Communications Manager at WITNESS, a leading video, technology, and human rights organization. An important part of WITNESS’ current work revolves around the human rights implications of deepfakes and generative AI – with a specific focus on defending the trust basis of audiovisual media. In the past, Anwar has done extensive work on digital hate speech, incitement to violence, and civic interventions through animated explainers and storytelling. She worked on two award-winning short films, Swipe and Shehr-e-Tabassum, that contend with the intersection of technology, authoritarianism, and extrajudicial violence. She was the founding Editor-in-Chief of Hashiya, a Pakistani critical histories channel with a focus on colonialism, violent histories, and intergenerational trauma. She is a regular contributor to The Funambulist, a Paris-based magazine on the politics of space and bodies.

Participating Sessions

Using and Abusing Deepfakes: The Dangers and Potential of AI in Documentary

Pseudonyms and blurred faces. Altered voices. Filming in silhouette. Masking victims. Faced with the challenging question of protecting the anonymity of film subjects who have already been victimized once, a handful of investigative filmmakers are turning to deep fakery. Using artificial intelligence, they are able to alter the appearance and voice of their source, restoring the humanity of vulnerable subjects as they tell their stories. How do filmmakers make that...