AI-powered deepfakes bare fangs in 2023, raise concern about impact on privacy, electoral politics
From politics to films and even war, the year 2023 has demonstrated that not everything one sees or hears on the internet may be real.
With the ever-evolving Artificial Intelligence technology rapidly becoming a part of people's lives, a sharp rise in deepfakes has raised concerns in the country about its potential to influence electoral politics, especially during the Lok Sabha polls slated to be held next year.
Deepfakes are manipulated videos or other digital representations that use artificial intelligence to create cogent videos or audio of individuals they never did or said, posing a risk of spreading misinformation and damaging their reputation.
We are now on WhatsApp. Click to join.
According to the '2023 State of Deepfakes Report' by 'Home Security Heroes' -- a US-based web security services company -- deepfake videos saw a five-times increase since 2019.
In 2023, India witnessed scores of troubling instances related to deepfake videos, like the one involving actor Rashmika Mandanna, whose face was superimposed on that of a British-Indian social media influencer.
The incident sparked a nationwide debate around the implications of deepfakes and raised alarms about the invasion of privacy and the potential to cause harm. Four people were arrested for making and uploading the deepfake video on social media.
It was not just her, other film stars such as Alia Bhatt, Kajol, Aishwarya Rai and Katrina Kaif were also targeted with deepfake videos.
A couple of months ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged the use of artificial intelligence for creating deepfakes, saying this can precipitate a big crisis. He urged the media to spread awareness about its misuse and impact.
Modi said he recently suggested to ChatGPT professionals
Read more on tech.hindustantimes.com
