If you worked with convolutional neural networks or their predecessors, you knew about "deepfakes" long before 2017. They were never a secret technology nor are they from the future. Where in the name of all that is holy did you read that???

The only reason they became known worldwide was because they started to look decent and anyone with a decent PC could make one around that time. Prior to that, it took a lot of time to make one and the results, while cool looking, were unnatural and fake looking the instant you saw one.