this is night line. tonig fak it. the high-tech individ individ id from buzz feed, using artificial intelligence to put faces on the wrong bodies and words into the wrong mouths. these so-called deep fakes showing how seeing should not mean believing. plus, lights, christmas, action. >> look at those lights! >> inside one man's little north pole, looking to raise big money for a cause close to home. but the battle for the most festive house on the block

request brican bring out the grinches. and one accomplishment taking center stage. but first, the "nightline" five. ♪ >> no matter what life throws down. roomba is up for the challenge. only roomba uses two multi-surface rubber brushes that clean up debris on all your floors. and only the new roomba empties its own bin. if it's not from i-robot, it's its own bin. if it's not from i-robot, it's not a roomba. its own bin. if it's not from i-robot, it's not a roomba.♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ good evening. thanks for joining us. we begin with those controversial videos known as

deep fakes. from politics to porn. they use artificial intelligence, making it difficult to differentiate fact from fiction. how these videos are creeping into sites hilike reddit and youtube. how they are causing real problems. >> we're enter ago eing an an an which it can look like our enemies are saying anything anytime. >> reporter: this looks like president obama. and sounds like him too. but it isn't. >> you see, i would never say these things, at least not in a public address, but someone else would. someone like jordan pierce. >> reporter: this is a deep fake, a video created with artificial intelligence. >> i'm sorry. >> reporter: used to convert video of real people into potentially damaging doppelgangers, appearing to say and do things they never actually did.

>> moving forward, we need to be more vigilant. >> reporter: in this case, buzz feed and jordan peele used the technology to create an eye-grabbing psa. but experts fear that in the wrong hands deep fakes could become the next frontier in fake news and spark very real consequences. what could be so dangerous about a deep fake? >> we're used to looking at an image or video and putting faith in it. and with the rise of the ability to easily manipulate those, i think that's going to put our faith in dim tal media in jemd. >> reporter: it caused g fes wed concern when reddit . with glch, but at technology continues to evolve some people

worry they could become indistinguishable from the real deal, triggering widespread panic, riots or war. now they are grabbing the attention of lawmakers. >> deep fakes is a new area and people are going to continue to find new ones. >> reporter: and the department of defense. >> a lot of times there are indicators that can you see. but it's going to get more and more challenging over the time. >> reporter: is this an arms race? >> there's certainly a bit of a cat and mouse game going on. >> reporter: dr. matt tarack heads the advanced research agency or darpa. his task, on the right hand. an object was removed.

the car that moved through the scene was essentially erased out of the video. >> reporter: while the technology isn't flawless, ther there. many of them harmless spoofs of popular films, from nic cage and "the sound of music". ♪ the hills are alive with the sound of music ♪ >> reporter: or "the godfather." even "the avengers". but the creators of videos like tease are aware of the controversy. we reached out to derpfakes. they claim to be one of the early innovators. they didn't want to reveal their name but told abc that all of them have a level of controversy attached to them. their approach is to make the public familiar with the idea that what we see is not true buy default. either way, it's here to stay.

what have you witnessed so far that's worrisome to you? >> manipulations that may have required state-level resources or several people and significant financial effort can potentially be done at home by an individual. >> reporter: so you're saying it's become easy and cheap to create a deep fake. >> it is significantly easier than it has been in the past. ♪ >> you'll always be with me. >> reporter: the creation of a deep fake is somewhat similar to the state-of-the-art special effects used in today's film making. like the face mapping used to add the late paul walker's likeness to the movie "furious seven." but deep fakes have a lot in common with technology you're probably more familiar with, the photo album on your phone that learns your friends' faces or face swapping

>> there's jackie and there's me with jackie's face. >> deep fakes are believable. i canrain on that data and take those models and create deep fakes. >> reporter: at the university of colorado denver, it's jeff smith's job to create convincing deep fakes as one of darpa's partners. >> we act as the bad guys creating manipulated audio, video and imagery so that the al ga rimms that are developed can be tested and overall, the ability for the detection of manipulated media gets better. >> reporter: take pea throume te steps. >> it's a process of machine learning, instructing a computer to understand a face and create

that face on its own. then we actually conduct the swap itself. >> reporter: the faces. >> yep. >> reporter: i love how we're talking about advanced technology, and we're on a whiteboard. >> at least it's not a chalkboard. >> reporter: he even gives us a deep faking demo. what does a deep fake look like? >> it looks like this. >> reporter: we've swapped faces. >> pretty spooky. >> reporter: i kind of like my beard, actually. because we look very different, we aren't the best candidates. in this video, you see a convincing deep fake coming to life. >> this is within the first couple hours. it starts to come in focus. but as we zoom out after a few days, that expression is made based on jeff's expression. >> reporter: because the software is learning. >> facial features and mapping those facial expressions with those features as that training process keeps going. the models get better and better and better, and it can take

hours to days. that's right now with today'sni. so, in another year or two there will be either improvements to this system or new systems that can do the same thing, maybe even better, maybe faster. >> reporter: and as that happens, jeff hopes his students can stay ahead of the curve. >> so we took this video, innocuous, tri pod, high quality, nothing happening. you inserted the rifle, right. >> reporter: you actual lay put -- actual lay ply put a weaponn into that image. >> it makes you more aware of what is possible with manipulated videos. so hopefully it it makes them think more about it. >> reporter: if i were a student and i saw that, i would have thought that was real. by being here, how do you want to prevent that kind of fear? >> i just want to help develop the software they're trying to create to detect this kind of fake media so hopefully people

aren't tricked by videos that you can easily make, which is the software we have. >> reporter: is the mantra here don't always believe what you see? and while seeing doesn't necessarily mean believing in the digital age, looking beyond face value may be more important than ever. for "nightline, phillips, in denver, colorado. up next, the over the top lights and detailed decorations that would stop clark griswold dead in his snow tracks. s snow tracks. ve-year cancer su. being diagnosed with cancer made me rethink everything in my life. the things that became important to me were the relationships with people. we pulled together closer as a family. i had so many people at ctca helping me find a way to go through the treatments, to prepare me for anything i would've faced. cancer showed me what true living is all about.

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you know, it's beginning to look a lot like high electric this holiday season. all to shame the competition in the great christmas light fight. here's abc's david wright. >> reporter:' tis the season. time for the brightest, boldest displays of christmas cheer. some of them so big they're controversial. >> who's ready? >> reporter: one of the brightest spots this year is in rockaway beach, new york where joe's place took home top honor's on abc's "the great christmas light fight." >> you won i do have something for you. >> reporter: but it almost didn't happen. >> they called me up. they said joe, we want to you be

on thet,uto thank you. and i hung up the phone. they called me a second time. i said i don't do this for money. i do it for the children, a special group of children. if i could talk about the charity and i could give the money to the charity, i'd be more than interested in being part of the show. >> reporter: joe has been brighteni brightening christmas in rockaway for 23 years and raising money for juvenile diabetes. llion.>>eporter:all this n pole and lit startedh this? >> it's about 23 years ago. i'm a criminal attorney. a client of mine got needed to p and leave and i missed christmas with my daughter and decided never to miss christmas again.

>> reporter: his favorite decoration, those giant soldiers. when it comes to christmas, joe knows some guys. >> this is actually johnny lights. we're going to finish doing some lights over here. then the ice man. >> reporter: neighborhood elf armed with a power drill. >> i don't do anything with lights. i'm not the light guy, no. they say it pays three times as much. >> reporter: tony has his hands full tuning up the carousel, keeping the old-fashioned skating rink spinning away and the victorian dancers, too. >> computers, i have a lot of technical background. the merry go round is my biggest challenge. there's a transmission under there that is constantly turning and doing a couple different things and i have to constantly get in there and adjust it, right, joe? >> reporter: joe and his fiance jodi, don't want anybody to feel left out.

>> when the children in the neighborhood walk by and look at the lights, i want to put something out here for those children. >> reporter: because they might not have christmas. >> that's right. they might not have christmas as part of their tradition. so we put these dreidles out here. it tells the story of a big miracle. >> reporter: santa's workshop take up the entire two-car garage. your do you park your car? naturally, there's a nativity scene, too. >> we have joseph, who actually needs a haircut. we have mary, and we have baby jesus. >> reporter: jesus has got a lot of hair for a newborn. >> he does have a lot of hair. almost like a miracle. >> reporter: it is. where are the wise >> reptespirit draws out the wh neighborhood. there's even a police escort for the great man

>> he gives his heart, hede for on. he's dynamite. >> it's the light, it exemplifies it. >> it's a lot of hard work, but i've got some great friends, some great neighbors, and when you see the children. when you see the smiles, when you see them look up in warmth, it means everything. ♪ >> reporter: plenty of others across the country share that feeling. and some of them could give joe a run for the money. but the tempers can flare too. one time we visited new jersey at the largest christmas tree at keith shaw's house. >> over 47,000 on this tree. >> reporter: 47,000 light bulbs. some of the neighbors are a little passive aggressive about his display, but that's nothing. this year the town of oak ridge,

new jersey,pp a,000la a s day on providing security on his busy block. >> they're saying it's to makui we're not canceling the event. sh are not telling the family to we are tre with a ppreenicolce t >> fair or unfair? an unfortunate situation.f you ? >> no. andifferenc te. i taflke care over o here. >>r:te ltas or coguioititep fairfield, connecticut. >> somfeolice department could in some way stop event from shi t t home intong a light show specr 18their neighborsfotar iodoitet christmas cheer. >>ed we' tharet she didn't take time to come to

us and say i've got a probm. :teor ic p mangtsep>> r neighborhood's traffic and goodwill. in rockaway beach,o need for that. they just brolock off the who street year, right? >> we don't want any ofne we want the that rht onro t he little ntrth pole in rockaway beach. ex n oupurt, t hearts with one man's perseverance. perseverance. abc news "nightline" sponsored by mercedes benz.

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tonight at "nightlin" and amid and not so festive hulu, goniodghamt er