number is much higher. what you might not know about how to report positive at-home tests and why you should. another day of travel disruptions with new flight delays and cancellations. all as the cdc changes those isolation guidelines for people who test positive. what it means for you ahead. good tuesday afternoon, everybody. we're going to start with shaquille brewster, sam brock, and dr. tyson bell from the university of virginia. shaq, you're at one of the hospital where u.s. navy medical workers are on the scene. what are you seeing? >> this is an example of what we heard from president biden yesterday. he said that, yes, states will take the lead in responding to this new surge, but there will be federal support this is a team of military members, 20 military members arriving at this hospital for a month-long deployment. and while they -- i did speak to some in the command staff who are in that military uniform, many of the people going in, part of the military are essentially integrating with the hospital staff. hospital staff here say that the situation is dire. a doctor telling me when they did the sequencing, they're still dealing with the effects of the delta variant, not even this new variant that we're dealing with. so they're being stretched to the capacity and they see what's coming ahead. this help came at the perfect time. i want you to listen to some of the conversation i had with some of the military members who are here helping out the staff. >> i'm a medical surgical nurse. i work on the medical surgery unit, we take care of surgery patients, covid patients, take care of patients graded down, just getting well. >> a lot of the hospitals are being overwhelmed, their beds are full, they need additional bodies to support additional beds in each hospital for the surge. our teams are being placed where the department of defense and fema feel they are needed based on state requests to perform this aid. >> reporter: and think about that, you have members of the military who are deployed to iraq and afghanistan now ending up in hospitals like this. it is not just indiana and indianapolis, but there's another team being surged to a hospital in wisconsin, in the green bay area later this week. this is part of that support that the president was talking about, coming at a time when hospitals are seeing the staffing shortages and the burnout that we talk and hear so much about, the doctors here saying they're extremely grateful for the support they're receiving. >> and it puts it into such a sharp focus. these people spending time away from their families coming in to do this work. thanks. sam, you're tracking flight cancellations and delays piling up again. what's the latest? >> reporter: all of these travelers that have been snake bitten by travel problems are looking at an ongoing nightmare that is no doubt continuing into another day. we're expecting cancellations to break 1,000 domestically. this is after 1,500 cancellations yesterday. but the biggest part of the stories may be the delays, a couple thousand today. such a widespread impact as an impact that united airlines says half of its passengers did not get to their intended destination within four hours of the expected arrival time. the delays are a major issue right now. if you look at the percentage of flights that are being canceled, it's not great for delta and united. alaska airlines, jetblue, they're up between 8 and 11%. with all the inclement weather in the western part of the country right now, washington state getting hammered. you're seeing weather and covid combining for issues. increased flexibility for the airlines. the cdc just did go out and change its guidelines for quarantining from ten days down to five days provided you're asymptomatic. that is something that the airlines ceos from jetblue to delta have been lobbying the cdc to do for days now and they have. there is some push back, however, from the flight attendants association, the people who are working the most closely with passengers in the cabinet. they're wonder that ten days down to five might work for some people, but for others, they could be exposing passengers unnecessarily to the virus. this remains a point of contention. as dr. anthony fauci said, this is threading a needle between the science of omicron and the fact that you have depleted staffs for airlines, at hospitals, at transportation systems, and this appears to be the middle ground for now. >> sam, thank you. doctor bell, sam mentioned the updated cdc guidelines there. you have raised questions about a lack of a negative test requirement, particularly for those who are unvaccinated. is there science right now to back up this one-size-fits-all approach here? >> well, i do think that using a test-based approach makes a lot of sense w. the guidance from last week from health care workers, they shortened the quarantine period but added a test requirement if you were asymptomatic. i think with this new guidance both shortens that period and gets rid of the testing requirement. it goes a step a little too far. i think it's a step in the right direction. i just really wish that the rapid test would have been a part of this. >> dr. bell, there's a lot of confusion around what these updated guidelines mean for people who may have had minor symptoms the first couple days they test positive, then they become asymptomatic. can you help clear that up? >> this has been a point of contention that even the experts who are fighting over it have gotten off the mark a little bit. the cdc guidance actually says if that five days after testing positive, if you have no symptoms or if your symptoms are improving outside of a fever, then you can go ahead and leave home and mask for five more days. it's not entirely asymptomatic because if you have symptoms like a cough, for instance, if it's better, subjectively, you could say you feel better, you could leave isolation. that introduces a lot of interpretation into whether you can leave isolation or not. >> and a lot of people might not realize that there are resources available to help them report positive at-home tests and manage what comes next. what should people know about that and why it is important to self-report? >> well, it's important just because we want to make sure that public health officials have the ability to use the tools we know work, namely contact tracing. i think that point that several professionals are mentioning, there's a point where the cases are so much that your local areas can't keep track of it. self-reporting is important and making sure you do isolate, wear a mask indoors to try to limit the spread to others. we have to stop the chain of transmission. omicron is spreading like wildfire. >> what if people can't get ahold of a test and their symptomatic? should they just assume that they have covid at this point? >> at this point, i think that's the safest thing. we're seeing how many cases are -- places that are breaking records every day now and this variant is replacing delta at this point. i would say if you have symptoms, isolate yourself, try to get tested. if you can't, then you want to go ahead and presume and isolate yourself. >> the last thing you want to do is wait in those really long lines. dr. fauci said yesterday that the country should consider vaccine mandates for domestic flights. the president says the recommendation right now is that it's not necessary. but do you foresee this becoming a reality any time soon? >> i hope it does become a reality. i think all the things that we could do to encourage people to get vaccinated and get off that fence, that's what we need to do. from the perspective of my staff, my staff in the icu who are stretched thin to the bone, we're still seeing cases coming in of young people, unvaccinated, we have to do something drastic to fix this. i think that's encouraging by requiring travel, vaccination for travel. i'm all for it at this point. >> dr. tyson bell, good to talk to you. thank you for spending time with us. it's not just doctors and nurses we're seeing leave the health field lately. it's pharmacy technicians too. they're the folks who fill prescriptions and give out shots at your local pharmacy and they say they're underpaid and undervalued. here's vicky nguyen. >> reporter: mom of four spent more than 16 years working as a pharmacy technician at a rite aid near pittsburgh. in october she quit the job he loved. >> all the parts of my job i have enjoyed over the years have gone away with pandemic stress and just all the unpleasantness that is going on in health care and retail today. >> reporter: pharmacy techs support the pharmacists, answer calls, work the register and more. but increasingly, they're quiting. in a survey of independent owners, 90% say they can't find technicians. why are pharmacy techs so fed up? >> i think a lot of it comes to the fact that we are grossly underpaid across the board. >> median pay is $16 a hour. >> it was routine in my store when i was leaving to be 300 to 500 scripts past due at any given time. >> people could be going without their needed medications for days? >> absolutely. >> reporter: nbc news spoke 22 pharmacy technicians. each said their biggest concern was patient safety. >> you have pharmacies who are closing because they don't have the appropriate staff. >> reporter: al carter leads the national association of boards of pharmacy. he says the shortage of pharmacy techs has led to a spike in mistakes. >> in the last three or four months, i received probably double the number of patient letters than i have in the last year. >> reporter: we reached out to the country's leading pharmacy chains, rite aid said, we are temporarily closing most of your pharmacies one hour early to allow our pharmacy teams to catch up from the day and prep for the next. cvs and walgreens acknowledged workforce shortages. walgreens saying it reviews staffing levels and impacted stores may have temporarily adjusted hours. cvs said its teams remain flexible in meeting needs in a dynamic environment. all three say they're actively recruiting with cvs and walgreens increasing starting tech salaries to $15 an hour. heidi says she wants pharmacy techs to receive standardized training and competitive wages. >> now that the technicians are leaving en masse, hopefully they will figure out that they need to make a change. >> consumers with play a role in prompting changes too. if you see rushed or overworked staff or experience a mistake, report your concerns to the pharmacy board as well as management at your pharmacy. >> thank you. still ahead, it's this year's most popular website in the world. but tiktok is facing a number of allegations about the harm its videos are causing. could the senate soon see a power shift in 2022 with ten races to watch and months remaining before the midterm terms. details on a colorado shooting spree that left five people dead, including the shooter. people dead, including the shooter. if you have postmenopausal osteoporosis and a high risk for fracture, now might not be the best time to ask yourself... 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[cheering] that was awesome. and, the hits won't quit, with peacock premium included at no additional cost. all that entertainment built in. xfinity. a way better way to watch. an investigation is under way into a shooting spree in colorado last night. five people were killed, including the suspected gunman. the shooter stopped by seven locations across denver as well as the neighboring suburb of lakewood. they're still investigating a possible motive. gotti schwartz is on the story. what do we know? >> yeah starting to learn a little bit more about the victims. family are saying at least one of the woman who were killed was a predominant tattoo shop owner and artist. the first shooting happened in front of her tattoo parlor when a man opened fire killing two. shortly after that, police found another man shot and killed a few blocks away. investigators spotted the gunman in his vehicle. they try today chase him but the gunman opened fire and disabled one of their police cars. about 6:00 p.m., surveillance video shows a man walk into another tattoo shop, open fire on another victim, then calmly walk out, getting into a van, driving the wrong way down the street. police, once again, spotting him, exchanging gunfire, but the suspect somehow was able to get away. the suspect then ran into a hyatt hotel, shot the clerk before finally being cornered by police in a third gun battle with authorities and they say at that point the suspect was shot and killed. investigators still haven't said whether the gunman killed himself or was killed by an officer's bullet. but so far, we know that four of the seven victims have died. three were hurt, including one police officer who went into emergency surgery last night. still no word on his condition. >> concern that other suspects could be out there? >> reporter: well, at this point, they do not think that the gunman was working with somebody else. we do know that at least two of those locations seemed to be in front of tattoo parlor. but it's not clear -- police have not said if there's a specific reason they were targeting any of those locations. but at this point, they think that the threat has passed. they think it was one shooter and they are hoping -- we're hoping to get updates from police here in the next couple hours. >> thank you. after ending yet another day without a decision, jurors in the elizabeth holmes trial are back for a fifth day of deliberation. an unexpected decision made by the judge late yesterday, that means the jury of eight men and four women has one more day before the new year to deliberate and it follows three days last week and around seven hours yesterday, which passed without a single question from the panel. they're tasked with deciding whether elizabeth holmes committed wire fraud when she served as chief executive of theranos. and they're combing through the testimony of witnesses in the four-month trial. joining me right now is trial attorney and legal analyst ann bremner. if you were trying this case, what would be going through your mind right now? >> if i were the defense, i would be hopeful. if i were the prosecutor, i would be a little bit worried. they're definitely thinking about these charges and it's the holidays, it's never good for the prosecution. it's good for the defense. time of good cheer and goodwill and charity. i would think -- this was a case about hope and success that she hoped to achieve. they used to say in silicon valley, fake it until you make it, and she was hopeful that she would have this revolutionary device that could basically change the world. and that's the defense. it just didn't work. >> part of the mythology around elizabeth holmes was her ability to charm people into believing in her vision. could we read into this deliberation right now that maybe she was able to charm the jury? >> absolutely. i mean, she charmed david boyce, henry kissinger, george schultz and she charmed investors to the tune of millions, even billions. people believed in her. and she testified in this case, she testified at length. and i think that's really important. the jury may feel that they were charmed by her and some of the jurors that were excused in this case talked about being reluctant to send her to prison. >> i want to ask you about the implications, the shockwaves that could go through silicon valley if she's convicted. >> well, exactly. i'm from stanford. she was a dropout from stanford. the silicon valley has grown up in the last 30-some-odd years. investors with people who have great talent and brilliance are trying new things. people come in and try to follow these people and there's huge success in silicon valley. like edison, he tried and tried and tried and failed and failed and failed, and finally succeeded. that's why she called it the edison. people are going to say she was the alpha girl in the silicon valley. she was the one that women and men wanted to emulate. and so who is next that didn't quite make it yet? >> thanks for your time. appreciate it. >> thank you. and breaking news just in from an investigation into allegations against former new york governor andrew cuomo. the district attorney's office says cuomo will not face criminal charges from its investigation over allegations from two women, one who was identified as a trooper and another who he allegedly grabbed and kissed. our investigation found evidence to conclude that the alleged conduct did occur. in both instances, my office has determined although the allegations and witnesses were credible and the conduct concerning, we are not pursue criminal charges due to the statutory requirements of the criminal laws of new york. a colorado district attorney is asking to reduce the prison term of a truck driver who was sentenced to more than a century behind bars. the truck driver was charged with multiple crimes after the fatal crash that left four dead and two injured. the da is asking for the sentence to be reduced to 20 to 30 years, instead of the 110 years the driver originally got. colorado state law requires sentences to be served back to back, but the da says this case is exceptional. a resentencing hearing is set for january 13th. tiktok took over social media in 2021. but with the added popularity comes a number of allegations that its content is harmful to children and teens. but, first, the midterm elections are approaching. we'll take a look at the key races that determine who controls the senate in 2022. showing the world how liberty mutual customizes their car insurance. ow! i'm ok! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ only in theaters december 17th. 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(calm music) earn about covid-19,ly, mom, and baby a fighting chance. the more questions we have. the biggest question now, what's next? what will covid bring in six months, a year? if you're feeling anxious about the future, you're not alone. calhope offers free covid-19 emotional support. call 833-317-4673, or live chat at calhope.org today. turning now to what will surely be something we talk about a lot on this network in 2022, the november midterms. for republicans it's a chance to take back both chairmans of congress stopping the president biden legislative agenda. for democrats it would mean a continuation of their efforts to pass reform bills meant to transform how the country lives, works and votes. nbc news is tracking races in several key states that we'll be covering today and through november. joining me right now is ali vitali, coauthor of "politico's" playbook and kimberly atkins store. >> you're in a perpetual campaign right now. governing is campaigning and campaigning is sort of governing. it's all meshed together because for democrats on the hill, they were hoping that they would be able to notch yet another legislative win to end 2021 and send them into 2022 with some big ticket items that they can take back to voters, not just talking about things like the american rescue plan, but talking about things like traditional infrastructure, which they did manage to pass, but also that larger social spending and climate change package that remains stalled. all of that is going to come to fruition when they start messaging for the midterms. a lot of those things were things they thought would resonate with women in the suburbs who were a key part of biden's demographic in 2020, a group of voters that this democratic party was hoping they would be able to hold on to into 2022. they're going to be important in states like georgia and arizona, states that biden managed to put in the blue column in 2020 and democrats would like to hold on to the gains that they made there in the senate. you got to remember here too, it's a 50/50 senate right now. even one or two races just tipping the balance is going to make a huge difference. the other thing, if you look at republicans who are trying to make gains and regain the majority here in the senate, the thing that senator rick scott who heads up the campaign committee always says, he wants to make this is a referendum on the economy and on inflation. he has said repeatedly that he thinks those are good issues for republicans to run on. that combined with the president's current approval rating being as low as it is, republicans see a lot of road for opportunity there both in the senate and in the house as we get into the midterm calendar. >> let's start with georgia. that's where senator raphael warnock gave democrats the majority after his special election at the start of the year, is running against. his challenger is hershel walker. walker has gotten endorsements from president trump and mitch mcconnell. does capturing the trump voter base and establishment republicans make him one of the stronger gop candidates out there? >> absolutely. he's leading in the polls among the primary contenders in georgia. as we know, georgia is typically a red state and raphael warnock, because of that, is in a very vulnerable position. he just squeaked out a win. hershel walker has the benefit of name recognition. he's coming in as a celebrity candidate, someone that a lot of -- that has inspired other celebrities to get into the race, like dr. oz. he's coming in as a hero and a superstar. they both have questions about their past domestic violence issues on both sides and so that's going to come into play as well. but they both sort of have these sort of cloudy pasts so they can't really use it against each other. at the same time, hershel walker, it's his first time as a politician. he's not the perfect candidate because of the domestic assault issues. but he does have the backing of president trump which will help him in the primaries and the general in georgia. >> kimberly, pennsylvania considered one of the best chances for a dem pick up in 2022. democrats are likely to choose between their lieutenant governor or congressman conor lamb. if it becomes contentious, what does that do to their chances in general? >> pennsylvania would have been a state to watch regardless of what happened just because of what we saw in 2020. that was one of the key flash points for donald trump, the big lie and the attempt to stop the electors from that state from certifying because of that narrow democratic lead. and so we are seeing that same thing happen in that same sort of energy is going to be focused there in the race, particularly in greater philadelphia where those votes are being challenged. you also have this very trumpy element of dr. oz potentially being the nominee, even though he lives as far as we know in new jersey. but he is a television celebrity, very trump-like and somebody who is seeing this as an opportunity to run and you also have on the democratic side, you're going to have a primary between two people who have good name recognition in that state in lamb and fetterman and that's going to take a lot of the energy out of it as they're gearing up for this general election. there's going to be so much energy there. every race is so important for senate control with so much in the balance. so you're going to see a lot of energy and a lot of money going into the senate race in pennsylvania. >> tara, my home state, arizona, mark kelly is looking for re-election. of course, the state's other senator, kyrsten sinema has become a thorn in the side of her democratic colleagues. how much of a factor is she going to be in this race? >> well, i think that senator mark kelly is in a vulnerable position. arizona is a purple state. sinema was the first democrat to be elected and she does play both sides. she often bucks her own party and what she does often draws the ire of the progressive base of the democratic party and they've attacked her. and so far, they haven't gone after mark kelly. but sometimes these attacks on her can rile up the base to try to primary someone like mark kelly. it doesn't help him when his colleague, who he has defended and supported, is under attack from their -- his own party. but we'll see what happens. it seems that the progressives are not focusing on kelly right now and instead are spending a lot of their time, you know, going after sinema in her election in 2024. but they still need to energize the base to come out to vote for kelly. >> i got to be quick with you here. we're seeing a lot of names we don't know. political outsiders who have never held office. what do you read into that? >> the political outsider piece of it is a continuation of the trump era and you look at some of the candidates that he's endorsing, tara mentioned hershel walker in georgia, that's the trump trend. we know that republican and conservative voters are open to people who don't necessarily have political backgrounds, especially if it comes with a trump endorsement alongside of it. it's also a recruitment problem for republicans. there are several governors across the country, including in your home state of arizona but also up in new hampshire, where the republican campaign arm thought that governors were going to jump into the race and make them competitive or tilt republican. instead we saw a lot of the governors hanging back which brings more of these unknown names into the arena and that sets the stage for voters to get to know these candidates in a way that may not necessarily make it the easiest path to victory for republicans. >> good to see all of you. thank you. >> thanks. the man who has fooled millions with viral deepfake videos that impersonate tom cruise is speaking out. what he has to say about the potential threat posed by the technology. first, tiktok comes under scrutiny over its alleged impact on young people's health. alleget on young people's health nucala. a once-monthly add-on injection for severe eosinophilic asthma. nucala reduces eosinophils, a key cause of severe asthma. nucala is not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. ask your doctor about nucala. find your nunormal with nucala. psoriatic arthritis, made my joints stiff,... ...swollen, painful. ask your doctor about nucala. emerge tremfyant®. tremfya® is approved to help reduce joint symptoms in adults with active psoriatic arthritis. some patients even felt less fatigued. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. emerge tremfyant® with tremfya®... ask you doctor about tremfya® today. people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible... with rybelsus®. the majority of people taking rybelsus® lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than 7. rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking rybelsus® with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. wake up to the possibility of lower a1c with rybelsus®. you may pay as little as $10 for up to a 3-month prescription. ask your healthcare provider about rybelsus® today. the popular social media site tiktok is coming under fire. a content moderator tasked with reviewing video for the platform is now suing the company claiming it failed to protect her from, quote, psychological trauma after reviewing hundreds of hours of graphic videos, including sexual assault and mass shootings. and tiktok is under increasing scrutiny over its effects on younger users with teens believing they have rare mental disorders after watching hours of tiktok diagnosis videos. the platform's algorithm inundated teens with eating disorder videos. tiktok says it will adjust its algorithm. with tiktok now this year's most popular website in the world, many are calling for bigger changes to the social media giant. joining us now is a senior special writer on the investigations team at "the wall street journal" and one of the writers of the corpse bride diet and calvin rosenblatt. your investigation is fascinating. how did you guys go about finding what you did and what did you find? >> you know, we actually used automated accounts and/or bots they were 13 years old and we put them into tiktok and we watched tiktok feed them just video after about weight loss and unhealthy dieting. it was just amazing to see it happening. we also reached out to some of the teenagers too who actually fell down this rabbit hole of just eating disorder videos. and it had a big impact on our teens. and most of the teens we talk to are actually hospitalized. >> incredible. some of the content talking about 300 calorie a day diets, shaming people for not being able to starve themselves. it truly is disturbing. in your article, you wrote, once tiktok determined the bots would re-watch the videos, it began serving more, until it made up half of their feeds. and tiktok said the journalist's experiment doesn't reflect most people's experience on the site. do you see that as a big enough fix? >> it will be interesting to watch that fix and i will -- we will definitely wait for that fix. i will tell you, just working on this story, it was really interesting because when i -- you know, doing the story, i had to get into tiktok and i didn't even have to like any of these videos that showed, you know, just very thin people with protruding bones and feeding tubes and just the glamourization of a feeding tube. and i looked up, and even for me, just reporting the story, video after video popped up with just all of these -- this content on these teenagers with protruding bones and feeding tubes and it really took me looking at the videos for tiktok's algorithm to know, oh, she's interested in this. i didn't have to like them, and that's what was happening. i experienced it firsthand. >> this is really reminiscent of other social media giants that have been accused of having really negative effects on young users. facebook and twitter, they face similar criticisms, even hearings on capitol hill. but tiktok that has flown under the radar. why is that? >> well, i think tiktok really is the new kid on the block. it has not been around as long as these other giants. facebook has been around for close to a decade or over a decade. and tiktok has only been around for a couple of years. it did start out as musically, and then it became tiktok. and we've seen it grow exponentially. i think part of the issue is that tiktok is new. the other facet of this too is i think tiktok really does try to sort of make resources available in a way that other platforms don't necessarily make these resources as available. for one thing, if you are to search something that has maybe a proeating disorder word in the search engine, you can get resource that will come up on the search page before you get to look at that content. however, all you have to do is say, i'm not interested and you're going to see all of that content. so i think that while it is making effort, efforts are not strong enough. but it's so new and we're still learning so much about tiktok and it is part of a foreign country, although tiktok does operate in the u.s., tiktok is part of a chinese company. there's a lot of facets as to why we don't have as much scrutiny on tiktok and isn't as much control over it, but i think that will change over time. >> what should parents do or know, particularly because it's not even about liking content. it could just be lingering a few extra seconds? >> i notice that -- i'm sorry. >> i always say that parents should use the app. you should learn how the app works, how the algorithm learns what you like, just as you were saying, you don't necessarily have to like something to see it. if you are watching something, you're watching it until the end or re-watching, the algorithm is going to learn you're into this. it's going to serve you more content. if you share a link, you may learn that you were watching this and you wanted to send it someone. it's critical that parents are learning the app, learning how it works and having conversations about what are you watching on this app? what are you consuming and having conversations about should you be consuming this, do you need to take a break and being honest with your kids. >> final thoughts? >> parents have to be careful too because the kids have figured out how to fool the algorithm. when they write disorder, they'll write d-1, so they know how to get around the monitors. they know, let's disguise words, let's use "i"s instead of ones. >> i urge you to check out the investigation. incredible work. thank you. coming up next, we talk to the man who has become the unofficial face of the deepfake movement. you might not recognize him there, but you're going to recognize him when you see the technology transform into tom cruise. o tom crseui ♪ ♪ ♪ i'm greg, i'm 68 years old. i do motivational speaking ♪ in addition to the substitute teaching. i honestly feel that that's my calling-- to give back to younger people. i think most adults will start realizing that they don't recall things as quickly as they used to or they don't remember things as vividly as they once did. i've been taking prevagen for about three years now. people say to me periodically, "man, you've got a memory like an elephant." it's really, really helped me tremendously. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. ♪ ♪ 'tis the season to break tradition in a cadillac. don't just put on a light show—be the light show. make your nights anything but silent. and ride in a sleigh that really slays. because in a cadillac, tradition is yours to define. so visit a cadillac showroom, and start celebrating today. ♪ ♪ that's the debate around what's known as deepfake. digitally manipulated audio and video so real it can be impossible to detect and now the creators behind one of the most popular deepfake accounts is speaking to jacob. he joins us with this really fascinating conversation. >> you've probably seen those tiktok videos that look like tom cruz showing us a day in his life. they're captivating. the guy behind the account has fooled millions of people and he is opening up about the sensation he has created and how behind the wrong hands, it could have disastrous consequences. he's been posting videos of what appears to be a different side of the actor. >> i'm a big dave matthews guy. >> but believe it or not, that's most definitely not tom cruise. neither is this. >> i'm with one of the most legitimate correspondents on earth. now, if you're interviewing me, jacob, hold on a second. we're safe. >> you are deepfake tom cruise. >> that's me. >> miles fisher may have an uncanny resemblance to the superstar, but using advanced technology, what he's created is for more than an impersonation. >> have you guys created the best deep fake that's ever been made? >> i think we have created the first deepfake that's so realistic that a large majority of people have seen. >> not only seen, but fooled by. including at least one of the world's biggest celebrities. >> this is the one that justin bieber thought was real. ♪♪ >> he says looking and sounding like the leading man made it difficult to chart his own path as an actor, so a year ago, he decided to lean into it, stumbling into a role with reprecussions far beyond hollywood. >> it's important to learn and i'm fascinated by this. this is the bleeding edge of technology. >> it started when he contacted chris -- who began creating viral videos for fun and they're only getting better. >> about five days maximum, six days, i could turn around something like this. >> so you've gone from weeks to days in a matter of a year. this technology is advancing that rapidly. >> yeah. >> for his part, the real tom hasn't asked the duo to stop. he didn't respond to a request for comment from nbc news, but they were so successful, their company is now in business together, looking to convince others it's worth paying for this technology. >> how can we use this technology by creating kind of identity rights? say tom cruise gave us the consent for this likeness where we can move beyond just small parody clips. everybody gets paid for that intellectual property. >> that does raise ethical questions. >> the thesis of this company that chris started begins with ethics. >> they say they'll only take on projects they consider ethical, but some worry leaving companies an individuals to make that decision could be dangerous. congress has held hearings on deepfakes and they say they're following the technology closely, saying we'll continue to investigate any violations of federal law and actors that may use them for nefarious acts. should we understand it as a threat to our democracy? >> i think the technology is morally neutral. as it develops, the positive output will so far outweigh the negative uses. >> if you like what you're seeing, just wait for what's coming next. >> ume says it's fisher's talents combined with the ai that makes this possible, but technology is quickly catching up. they're both well aware they're in unchartered territory and at least one government has reached out to ume to learn more about that technology. >> that has strange implications. thanks. that does it for me today. thanks for watching. deadline white house starts right after this quick break. rt right after this quick break strokes can be reversed. joints can be 3-d printed. and there isn't one definition of what well feels like. there are millions. we're using our world to make your world a world of well. clerk: hello, how can i? 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