GetReal Labs Launches to Combat Malicious Manipulated Content and Deepfakes

Company brings together innovative technology with top media forensics 
and cybersecurity experts to safeguard against deception

GetReal Labs, the world’s leading authority on malicious manipulated content and deepfakes, announced its launch from stealth. The company has been incubated over the past two years by Ballistic Ventures, the premier venture capital firm for early-stage cybersecurity innovations, and UC Berkeley Professor Hany Farid, the preeminent and most trusted media forensics expert in the field.

“The inception of GetReal stems from years of watching AI trends and the democratization of its systems and tools. With a significant amount of all online content soon to be AI-generated, and first-hand accounts of how nefarious actors are exploiting advancements, we’re at the juncture where GetReal is critical,” said Ted Schlein, Co-founder and General Partner of Ballistic Ventures, who co-founded GetReal Labs and serves as its interim CEO. “We incubated GetReal because we understand the very real and growing threats to economies and society. Our mission is to stop these threats with the market’s most advanced technology for authenticating content and detecting deception – and the team we’ve assembled gives me great hope for our future.”

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“The malicious use of AI comes with serious and immediate consequences. It’s not futuristic. We’ve already seen it happen, from market turmoil caused by a viral image of a Pentagon explosion, to the deepfake disruptions in Slovakia’s latest election, and the CFO-deepfake that led to a $25M wire transfer,” said Hany Farid, Co-founder and Chief Scientist of GetReal Labs, who also serves as Professor at UC Berkeley in the Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences and the School of Information. “Having spent over 25 years working with corporations and governments on digital forensics and image analysis, I can say with certainty that there’s a real and urgent need to address malicious content now. That’s why GetReal is here, and I’m excited we can finally share what we’ve built.”

GetReal Labs’ mission is to protect organizations worldwide from the threats posed by the malicious use of manipulated content. From AI-generated profiles on social media, to voice scams targeting individuals in corporate accounting and IT teams, to a photoshopped image of a CEO in handcuffs, GetReal offers a suite of forensic solutions for multimedia content as well as real-time detection of malicious voice and video. The company will shape the way organizations protect themselves from deceptive content, including:

• Financial institutions and corporations for fraud prevention and trusted communications
• Media organizations for verification and integrity
• Government agencies for law enforcement and national security

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“We’re entering the new era of generative AI, but what we see now is really only scratching the surface of what’s to come,” said renowned cybersecurity expert Kevin Mandia, founder and former CEO of Mandiant and Co-founder and General Partner at Ballistic Ventures. “The new attack vector it has created cannot be ignored. GetReal’s ability to provide advanced detection of deception and clear explainability of results is what will give organizations the leg-up in this new fight. The team deeply understands this space, and their innovation is exactly what’s needed.”

In addition to Schlein and Farid leading the company and its vision, GetReal Labs also announced today the appointment of Jim Brennan as Chief Product and Technology Officer. Brennan has spent over two decades driving product vision and engineering leadership at BetterCloud, IBM Security, SecureWorks, Red Hat, Internet Security Systems and the Department of Defense.

To date, GetReal Labs has raised investments from Ballistic Ventures and Venrock. Ballistic Ventures Co-founder and General Partner Roger Thornton, who co-founded GetReal Labs, will join GetReal’s board.