Watch: Cork school uses scarily good ‘Deep Fake’ vid to get US Presidents and Kim Kardashian to call for new gym

It’s a measure of just how accessible and easy-to-use so-called ‘Deep Fake’ video technology has become that one Cork school can use it to get some of the world’s most respected and powerful figures – and Donald Trump – to back their campaign to get new facilities.

Cork’s Coláiste Éamann Rís – also known as Deerpark CBS – has employed some of the latest video editing and creation software to make a bold appeal to Make Deerpark Great Again. In a new video that is already getting loads of likes and shares on social media, the Southside school has called in the big guns to back their campaign.

The message is simple, with the school saying: “We desperately need a New Sports Hall. Next year, we will have nearly 800 students – Coláiste Éamann Rís needs funding for better sporting facilities. America agrees, let’s hope our own government does!”

And as the video shows, they have some serious backers, including the current and two former US presidents and celebrity influencer Kim Kardashian. Trump promises to ‘Make Deerpark Great Again’ while Kim Kardashian obviously dated a few past pupils as she says: “It will always be Deerpark to me”.

There are two serious elements to the fun. Firstly, Deerpark CBS, which had been connected to the now closed Sullivans Quay Christian Brother’s Primary School by the South Gate Bridge, came close to closing itself in the early noughties as the population (especially of young families) in the South Parish and around Friar’s Walk, Barrack St and Turner’s Cross, fell sharply.

It has fought back to the stage where the school is once more thriving – with 800 pupils expected to be enrolled next year – that’s at least equal to what it was in the 1970s and 1980s, back when its hurling teams were good enough to challenge (and even win) in big school championships like the Harty Cup.

The school has always had a gym hall – but it is in need of a major upgrade to give the pupils the kind of modern sports facilities that encourage participation and active lives.

And secondly, by creating videos like these, the young students at the now co-educational school are getting a practical example of just how convincing – and potentially dangerous – the latest ‘Deep Fake’ and AI content creation software can be.