HN Explorer

Launch HN: Reality Defender (YC W22) – API for Deepfake and GenAI Detection (realitydefender.com)

92 points by bpcrd ↗ HN
Hi HN! This is Ben from Reality Defender (https://www.realitydefender.com). We build real-time multimodal and multi-model deepfake detection for Fortune 100s and governments all over the world. (We even won the RSAC Innovation Showcase award for our work: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/reality-defender-wi...)

Today, we’re excited to share our public API and SDK, allowing anyone to access our platform with 2 lines of code: https://www.realitydefender.com/api

Back in W22, we launched our product to detect AI-generated media across audio, video, and images: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30766050

That post kicked off conversations with devs, security teams, researchers, and governments. The most common question: "Can we get API/SDK access to build deepfake detection into our product?"

We’ve heard that from solo devs building moderation tools, fintechs adding ID verification, founders running marketplaces, and infrastructure companies protecting video calls and onboarding flows. They weren’t asking us to build anything new; they simply wanted access to what we already had so they could plug it in and move forward.

After running pilots and engagements with customers, we’re finally ready to share our public API and SDK. Now anyone can embed deepfake detection with just two lines of code, starting at the low price of free.

https://www.realitydefender.com/api

Our new developer tools support detection across images, voice, video, and text — with the former two available as part of the free tier. If your product touches KYC, UGC, support workflows, communications, marketplaces, or identity layers, you can now embed real-time detection directly in your stack. It runs in the cloud, and longstanding clients using our platform have also deployed on-prem, at the edge, or on fully airgapped systems.

SDKs are currently available in Python, Java, Rust, TypeScript, and Go. The first 50 scans per month are free, with usage-based pricing beyond that. If you’re working on something that requires other features or streaming access (like real-time voice or video), email us directly at yc@realitydefender.com

Much has changed since 2022. The threats we imagined back then are now showing up in everyday support tickets and incident reports. We’ve witnessed voice deepfakes targeting bank call centers to commit real-time fraud; fabricated documents and AI-generated selfies slip through KYC and IDV onboarding systems; fake dating profiles, AI-generated marketplace sellers, and “verified” influencers impersonating real people. Political disinformation videos and synthetic media leaks have triggered real-world legal and PR crises. Even reviews, support transcripts, and impersonation scripts are increasingly being generated by AI. Detection remains harder than we first expected since we began in 2021. New generation methods emerge every few weeks that invalidate prior assumptions. This is why we are committed to building every layer of this ourselves. We don’t license or white-label detection models; everything we deploy is built in-house by our team.

Since our original launch, we’ve worked with tier-one banks, global governments, and media companies to deploy detection inside their highest-risk workflows. However, we always believed the need wasn’t limited to large institutions, but everywhere. It showed up in YC office hours, in early bug reports, and in group chats after our last HN post.

We’ve taken our time to make sure this was built well, flexible ...

27 comments

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candiddevmike
On a 2k desktop using Chrome, your website font/layout is way too big, especially your consent banner--it takes up 1/3 of the screen.
bpcrd
Noted. Our marketing team only uses 640x480 CRTs and works exclusively in IE6, so will flag to them via Yahoo Messenger.
abhisek
About time. Much needed. I just wish this was open source and built in public.

On my todo list to build a bot that finds sly AI responses for engagement farming

taneq
Yeah but does it actually work, though? There have been a lot of online tools claiming to be "AI detectors" and they all seem pretty unreliable. Can you talk us through what you look for, the most common failure modes and (at suitably high level) how you dealt with those?
m4tthumphrey
I feel like this will be the next big cat and mouse sega after ad-blockers;

1) Produce AI tool 2) Tool gets used for bad 3) Use anti-AI/AI detection to avoid/check for AI tool 4) AI tool introduces anti-anti-AI/detection tools 5) Repeat

BananaaRepublik
Won't this just become the fitness function for training future models?
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caxco93
please do not hijack the scroll wheel
Grimblewald
I feel like a much easier solution is enforcing data provinence. Ssl for media hash, attach to metadata. The problem with AI isnt the fact its ai, its that people can invest little effort to sway things with undue leverage. A single person can look like 100's with signficantly less effort than previously. The problem with ai content is it makes abuse of public spaces much easier. Forcing people to take credit for work produced makes things easier (not solved) kind of like email. Being able to block media by domain would be a dream, but spam remains an issue.

so, tie content to domains. A domain vouches for content works like that content having been a webpage or email from said domain. Signed hash in metadata is backwards compatible and its easy to make browsers etc display warnings on unsigned content, content from new domains, blacklisted domains, etc.

benefit here is while we'll have more false negatives, unlike something like this tool, it does not cause real harm on false positives, which will be numerous if it wants to be better tham simply making someome accountable for media.

AI detection cannot work, will not work, and will cause more harm than it prevents. stuff like this is irresponsible and dangerous.

darenfrankel
I worked in the fraud space and could see this being a useful tool for identifying AI generated IDs + liveness checks. Will give it a try.
primitivesuave
First want to say that I sincerely appreciate you working on this problem. The proliferation of deepfakes is something that virtually every technology industry is dealing with right now.

Suppose that deepfake technology progressed to the point where it is still detectable by your technology, but is impossible for the naked eye. In that scenario (which many would call an eventuality), wouldn't you also be compelled to serve as an authoritative entity on the detection of deepfakes?

Imagine a future politician who is caught on video doing something scandalous, or a court case where someone is questioning the veracity of some video evidence. Are the creators of deepfake detection algorithms going to testify as expert witnesses, and how could they convince a human judge/jury that the output of their black box algorithm isn't a false positive?

seanw265
How do you prevent bad actors from using your tools as a feedback loop to tune models that can evade detection?
AlecSchueler
It's sadly not often enough I see a young company doing work that I feel only benefits society, but this is one of those times, so thank you and congratulations.
DonHopkins
How easy is it to fool Reality Defender into making false positives?

Whenever I'm openly performing nefarious illegal acts in public, I always wear my Sixfinger, so if anyone takes a photo of me, I can plausibly deny it by pointing out (while not wearing it) that the photo shows six fingers, and obviously must have been AI generated.

In support of said nefarious illegal acts, the Sixfinger includes a cap-loaded grenade launcher, gun, fragmentation bomb, ballpoint pen, code signaler, and message missile launcher. It's like a Swiss Army Finger! You can 3d print a cool roach clip attachment too.

"How did I ever get along with five???"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElVzs0lEULs

https://www.museumofplay.org/blog/sixfinger-sixfinger-man-al...

https://www.museumofplay.org/app/uploads/2010/11/Sixfinger-p...

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yalogin
Interesting that fakes text is not an artifact they support. I can understand there isn’t enough entropy for the detection logic to work may be
bpcrd
It is in fact something we support with our enterprise clients and will roll out at a later date via Public API. Including the free tier.
sidcool
Congrats on launching. Would be good to have a quick trial on the website for a sample image, rather than going through the SDK route.
salynchnew
I figure the VirusTotal approach would be bad in this case, as it'd be a vector for bad actors to test AI-generated images to see if they pass or not.
bpcrd
This is something for us to consider in the near future!
DigitalDopamine
Nice. They’ve got a very good reason to keep the model as closed as possible. The second you make it open, it just becomes the fitness signal for the next batch of deepfakes

Make sure it works (most of the time) lock it down behind an well-guarded API and charge a lot of money :)

salynchnew
This is the way. Don't become VirusTotal for deepfakers.
deadbabe
Are you sure you guys want to tackle this problem?

This isn’t the type of thing where you build a product doing a lot of work up front, and then spend the rest of its life offering support and new features and relaxing a bit.

You are committing to a cat and mouse game. You will constantly have to stay on top of ever improving tech that gets harder to beat, you will never know peace. You will have to exert more and more effort each year.

bpcrd
This is something we're constantly updating, upgrading, iterating, and improving on. Every. Single. Day.

Whether it's introducing new models, deprecating old ones, or improving existing ones, there is an element of both staying current but also looking ahead at research. Many of the new models generating hyperreal content we catch on day one because they're based on existing technology and/or research.

can16358p
But can't the bad actors use the same APIs to ensure that it's passing this first?