Possible Impact of Deepfake Politicians on the 2024 Indian General Elections

Artificial intelligence has enabled Indian politicians to participate anywhere at once in the world’s biggest election by replicating their voices and digital likenesses. Even deceased celebrities, such as politician and actress Jayaram Jayalalithaa, have been digitally resurrected to lend their support in what is shaping up to be the biggest test yet for democratic elections in the age of AI-generated deepfakes.

India’s approximately 970 million voters began going to the polls on April 19 in a multi-step process that will continue until June 1 to choose the next government and prime minister.it means booming business Divyendra Singh Jadunwhose company is it? indian deep faker AI technology is typically used to create special effects for advertising campaigns and Netflix productions.

His company has done more than a dozen projects, including creating holographic avatars of politicians, using voice clones and video deepfakes to send out personalized messaging blasts, and introducing conversational AI agents that speak to you while recognizing themselves as AI. We are working on several election-related projects. Political candidates’ statements during calls with voters.

“This will be the first time this is happening on a large scale,” Jadun said. “Some political parties want to try everything, but we don’t know what impact that will have.”

A lot has changed since India’s current Prime Minister Narendra Modi used 3D hologram technology to broadcast pre-recorded speeches at multiple election rallies across India in 2014. Now, through the use of AI technology, his AI-generated avatar addresses voters by name in WhatsApp videos. Its influence in Indian politics expanded.

AI-generated content tends to portray campaigners in a positive light, rather than being used to attack opponents. Joyojeet Pal at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. This message is likely to be believed by viewers who are not familiar with cutting-edge AI content, while still recognizing that AI is behind them, as it aligns with their political beliefs. It could also generate memes for voters to enjoy and share, he said.

But not everything is so clean.His 2024 at the World Economic Forum Global Risk Report Indian experts warn misinformation and disinformation as ‘biggest threat’ to country over next two years, with inaccurate AI-generated videos potentially influencing voters and fueling protests I discovered that there is a warning. In 2018, fake news messages and videos spread through WhatsApp in India, spurring mobs to lynch dozens of people.

Jadoon said his company has responded to about 200 election-related requests it has received, calling them “unethical” such as creating fake deepfake videos aimed at tarnishing the image of politicians. About half of them were rejected immediately.

However, he points out that anyone can create low-quality deepfakes within minutes using online tools. It’s almost impossible to police them.

“The key difference in India is that the resources that policymakers and businesses devote to considering and addressing these challenges are completely dwarfed by their scale and intensity,” he said. To tell. Diviji Joshi At University College London. “The political context is also a situation where political parties encourage extremist speech and hate speech.”

A lot will depend on how US tech companies deal with deepfakes on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube and Telegram during the Indian elections. Facebook owner Meta partners with third party fact checking network We have assessed the potential for misinformation in 16 Indian languages ​​and English and plan to: Label AI-generated content It will launch more broadly on its platform starting May this year.

Meta also Fact-checking helpline Works with new features to flag deepfakes and other AI-generated misinformation on WhatsApp Deepfake analysis unit It was founded by the Indian Disinformation Combat Alliance. The intelligence team says it will let her WhatsApp users know if the audio or video samples they submit have been manipulated by AI, and forward any potential misinformation to fact-checking partners. Panposh Rainahead of the deepfake analysis unit.

But the bigger question is whether the Election Commission of India, which works with tech companies to combat misinformation and disinformation, can ensure elections are fair, Pal said. Part of its role is to prohibit discrimination and incitement based on religion and caste, and to prohibit identity theft.