Bridging the policy gap: Deepfakes, AI governance, and India's policy agenda

For some uses of AI, risk is deemed unacceptable and, therefore, these systems will be banned from the EU.

- DR FAUZIA KHAN SHRUTI SAXENA

A manipulated video using Deepfake technology Congress chief Kamal Nath from Madhya Pradesh recently went viral, causing scepticism over the future course of the state government's Laadli Bhehna Scheme. The doctored video reportedly showed Kamal Nath saying that the Congress, as soon as it forms the government, 'will put a stop to the Ladli Bhehna scheme' - and women will stop getting the cash benefit. This is an example of how deepfakes are used to fabricate incidents or speeches that never occurred, leading to the creation of controversies and discord within the electorate.

Similarly, in May 2022, a fake and heavily manipulated video depicting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy circulated on social media. The video, which shows a rendering of the Ukrainian president appearing to tell his soldiers to lay down their arms and surrender the fight against Russia, is a so-called deepfake that ran about a minute long.

What Are Deepfakes? As the name suggests, Deepfakes are digital media, video, audio, and images, edited and manipulated using AI (Artificial Intelligence). The deepfake video is the most commonly seen example among other varieties of deepfake techniques, in which the face of a person in the video is swapped with another person's face. This damages a candidate's reputation by making it appear as though they are engaging in some unethical or illicit activities.

THE EUROPEAN UNION'S AI ACT