Hyderabad: The increasing influence of artificial intelligence and deepfakes is creating a fresh set of hurdles for election officials and politicians, against the backdrop of multiple politicians being targeted on social media.
In one such instance, an AI-generated viral video of TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy making disparaging remarks about the BRS came as a shock.
Another AI-generated video, of minister Ch Malla Reddy saying “you will not get jobs if you vote for KCR” and dancing to beats, also went viral.
A third such clip, a deepfake video of YSRT chief Y.S. Sharmila Reddy lying on a hospital bed and cautioning against tobacco use, has also caused concern.
The police said that the advent of deepfake applications has exacerbated the situation, making it more difficult to differentiate between genuine and manipulated content, leading to confusion in the run-up to the elections.
Hyderabad cybercrime ACP Shiva Maruti said: “The rise of AI has ushered in a new era of challenges for us. These AI-generated videos and deepfake apps are a potential threat to the integrity of the electoral process. We are taking this matter seriously and working closely with cyber experts to identify and counter such fake content.”
Deliberating on the modus operandi used by perpetrators of such videos, cyber expert Praveen Tangella said: “They use old videos of politicians, even ones from a long time ago. They add different voices and change the faces in the videos. What makes these deepfakes special is that they're hard to tell apart from real ones. This makes it more difficult for people to know what's real and what's fake.”
“It's concerning because these fake videos can easily mislead people. These videos are mainly found on social media, which is how they target young voters in the state. And this can lead to increased chances of misinterpretation of the elections,” he said.
