With that said almost every use-case cited was financial or monetary gain whereas I enquired about social utility and value.
That dishonesty ie creation of a fake avatar is cited as being of social utility strikes me as a reach. I don’t see how adding more dishonesty and facades to the world adds social value, but then I may just be of limited imagination.
Oh, right. I think the unfortunate answer is that nobody cares about that distinction any more and only about the former.
It could allow people to petition their government [0] without having someone bust down their door at 3am and disappear forever.
[0] Which is apparently important enough to have been included in the bill of rights
Surely just wearing a mask - virtual or otherwise - does the job without the deep fakery?
And having subtle clues from watching a person’s face while they’re proposing whatever action to overthrow the patriarchy is more convincing than some random person wearing a Guy Fawkes mask talking about revolution for the umpteenth time.
1. CGI for video editing - lower the bar of entry to de-age actors, or use a stand-in. Actor can't make it to a shoot that day? No worries, replace their face in post easily.
2. Identity protection - Cold call with someone that reached out to you, you're not sure if they're safe or dangerous, could be a good way to protect yourself.
3. Social media content for clients - become a fake avatar for hire essentially, customize your narrator for any video or brand. Video call centers with fake video (they already have voice modifiers and fake names), Enhanced VTuber sort of things (virtual avatars for streaming).
4. Unexpected outcomes: for example Holly Herndon created (and sold) access to an AI replica of her singing voice (n1), and I could see artists selling or renting access to their faces.
Obviously this can and will be used maliciously, but I personally could see myself using it for more positive reasons.
n1. https://holly.mirror.xyz/54ds2IiOnvthjGFkokFCoaI4EabytH9xjAY...