American academic John Mearsheimer endured a "herculean" months-long battle against hundreds of AI-generated deepfake videos impersonating him on YouTube, highlighting the severe challenges of combating AI disinformation and identity theft.

• Mearsheimer's office at the University of Chicago identified 43 YouTube channels pushing AI fabrications using his likeness.
• The fabricated clips, some featuring contentious geopolitical remarks and others with Mandarin voiceovers, spread across platforms like YouTube and TikTok.
• YouTube eventually shut down 41 of the 43 identified channels after a slow and cumbersome reporting process.
• Experts like Vered Horesh from the AI startup Bria emphasize that "Safety can't be a takedown process – it has to be a product requirement."
• Mearsheimer and fellow economist Jeffrey Sachs plan to launch their own YouTube channels to combat the "whack-a-mole" issue of deepfakes.