A deepfake AI video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where he can be seen rocking a concert, went so viral on social media platform ‘X’ that Prime Minister Modi himself retweeted the post and expressed his amusement and delight over it on Monday. He wrote, “Like all of you, I also enjoyed seeing myself dance.” He further added, “Such creativity in peak poll season is truly delightful! #pollhumor.”
The user who created this content goes by the name @Athiest-Krishna and posted the content with the caption “Posting this video because I know that ‘THE DICTATOR’ is not going to get me arrested for this.”
Brewing Deepfake Videos in Elections
PM Modi’s reaction came at a time when ongoing Lok Sabha elections are brewing with AI deepfake videos. Famous celebrities, politicians—no one is being spared. Recently, deepfake videos of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, and actors Ranveer Singh, and Aamir Khan were all dragged into the frenzy of AI deepfake videos, where AI characters can be seen making misleading and false political statements.
On Monday, the Election Commission directed political parties to remove fake content from their social media platforms within three hours of such content being brought to their notice.
The commission also instructed parties to refrain from impersonating others, posting derogatory content about women, or creating and sharing deepfake videos as part of responsible and ethical social media use guidelines.
“Whenever such deepfake audios/videos come to the notice of political parties, they shall immediately take down the post but maximum within a period of three hours and also identify and warn the responsible person within the party,” the poll body said.
The commission also warned the parties against the misuse of artificial intelligence-based tools to create deepfakes that distort information or propagate misinformation and emphasized the need to uphold the integrity of the electoral process.
Basically, ever since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, artificial intelligence has almost become a buzzword. And now, as AI grows more sophisticated and widespread, the alarms against its potential dangers ring louder.
After ChatGPT became an overnight sensation over the past two years, it brought several concerns to the limelight, be it AI-powered job automation or deepfakes.
In a line: “The era of AI elections is here.”