Fake Video Involving a Faculty Member

Last month, the university issued a statement related to a concerning and disturbing video that was circulating online, allegedly of a professor at Bentley. The university promised to conduct a thorough, independent investigation into that video, and assured that we would provide an update to the community once the review had concluded. I am writing today to share that the independent investigation and analysis is complete, and the investigator has definitively found that the video and audio are “not authentic.” It was determined that the video in question was a fraudulent “spoof” video, also known as a “deepfake,” that contains fake audio and manipulated images put together with the intention of defaming a Bentley faculty member.

To lead this independent investigation, Bentley retained the services of the law firm Kurker Paget, who selected an external forensic video investigator, Tamar Forensics LLC, to review the recording. Using advanced audio/video forensic analysis, the investigation determined that an existing recording of the professor was likely inputted into a software program, which then allowed someone else to speak into a microphone in a way that aimed to duplicate the professor’s voice. The synthesized voice was then placed over the video to create a second video. The forensic analysis found “significant differences” between the professor’s voice in the original recording and in the second video. “The speaker voices completely mismatch,” the analysis found. “This unknown video is a spoof.”

I want to make it clear that, as always, Bentley followed established protocols in this case to make sure that the two people involved in this dispute were given the opportunity to share information with an independent party about their disagreement. After receiving a complaint from the student earlier this year, the university launched a bias investigation, which ultimately found no evidence of bias toward the student. It is our belief that the video was created and distributed as part of an effort to coerce the institution into changing a grade given several months earlier.

The student involved in this matter is no longer a member of this university community. The wrongly-accused faculty member, who was on a pre-planned leave of absence this semester unrelated to this case, will return to the campus community and classroom this fall.

There is no place for such blatant disregard for the wellbeing of a community member on our campus. These types of fraudulent and dishonest tactics look to undermine the very systems we have installed to protect both students and employees from incidents of bias in our community. We will continue to investigate potential avenues to redress the harm that has been done to the university and the professor.

We are glad that this matter is resolved and urge all students, faculty and staff members at Bentley to treat one another with dignity and kindness and to carry themselves in accordance with our core values of caring, honesty and respect.