In November last year, Muralikrishnan Chinnadurai (Founder of Muralikrishnan Chinnadurai Mediacorp Private Limited) was watching a livestream of aTamil event in the UK when he noticed something odd.

“A woman introduced as Duwaraka, daughter of ??Velupillai Prabhakaran, the Tamil Tiger militant chief, was giving a speech. Infact Duwaraka had died more than a decade ago in an airstrike in 2009 during the closing days of the Sri Lankan civil war. The then-23-year-old's body was never found but in the show she was seemingly a middle aged woman. What is this?” - A creation of Deepfake technology.

Deepfake Technology is a way to use Artificial Intelligence to make fake photos, videos, audios, etc. It is used to change someone’s face, voice or actions so it looks like they are saying or doing something which they didn’t say or do. E.g. In 2019, a video of former PM Manmohan Singh went viral, in which he was supporting Bharatiya Janata Party, which was made to mislead voters.

Thus, Deepfake Technology creates misinformation among the public and causes spread of fake news. It even creates a threat to privacy concerns and can be used for fraud and manipulation.

RISKS

This technology of AI is nowadays used to create highly convincing fake videos that often deceive viewers leading to manipulation of public opinion.It blurs the line between what is real and what is fabricated. Immoral personalities use this side of AI for financial scams. These all when combined together exaggerate social tensions, spread rumors or damage reputations that lead to social unrest and personal harm.They can be used for cyber bullying, harassment, undermining trust in media and authencity of videos. Its misuse poses serious threat to life and liberty of an individual, peace and harmony in the society.

MEAN PURPOSES

Ø It is used for misleading the viewers e.g. A deepfake video of Manoj Tiwari, a BJP candidate was made in Delhi Assembly elections 2020in which he was shown speaking in multiple languages to vow the voters in their mother tongue.

Ø It is used in the context of political satire and entertainment.E.g. The popular animated series named as ‘So Sorry’ by the India Today Group creates caricatures of politicians like Prime Minister Narender Modi, Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal and many more.

Ø These are actually made to represent current issues in a humorous way but many people use it for their mean purposes and start to defame politicians and political parties.This technology is nowadays openly used to make vulnerable videos of politicians like a video of Narender Modi dressed as a bird with background music and lyrics as ‘Udta hi phirun in hawaon main kahin’went viral on social media platforms.

India’s elections are a glimpse of the AI-driven future of democracy. Politicians are using deepfake audios and videos of themselves to reach voters—who may have no idea they’ve been talking to a clone.

LEGAL PROVISIONS

Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act):

Section 66C: This section deals with identity theft,creatingdeepfake contents that involve impersonating another person. The punishment extends up to imprisonment of three years and/or fine.

Section 66D: This section addresses cheating by personation using computer resources. Creating deepfake to deceive or defraud someone can result in imprisonment up to three years and/or a fine.

COUNTER MEASURES

We need to enhance the biometrics to train and use AI driven systems by analyzing the eye movements, voice patterns and even recognize patterns specific to deepfake videos.We also need to develop technologies that make it difficult to alter media content without leaving visible traces.

At last to overcome the issues caused by Deepfake technology, we need to have an ultimate approach towards technological innovation, ethical consideration and public awareness.