Rajat Sharma, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India TV.
Today I want to warn you about a danger. This is the danger of deep fake videos. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also warned about this on Friday. Modi said that while on one hand new technology is making life easier, on the other hand new technology also has its own dangers. Such dangers can ruin someone’s life, spoil the social fabric, create tension in the society, hence there is a need to be careful about it. Modi said that after the advent of Artificial Intelligence, awareness is now necessary because Artificial Intelligence eliminates the difference between real and fake, it is not known what is real and what is fake. Modi talked about fake video. Said that nowadays everyone has a phone in their hands, every phone has many types of apps, everyone has social media apps and if a fake video comes, it reaches millions of people through social media within a few minutes, people correct it. Let’s understand. This can cause great harm to a person or society.
What Modi said may sound small but this danger is really very big. Modi was speaking at a Diwali get-together with journalists on Friday. He told how in a fake video he was shown dancing Garba with women. Modi told that he had never danced Garba since his school days. But seeing this video no one can say that the person doing Garba in the video is not the Prime Minister. This is a deep fake video. Since technology has advanced so much that any person can be shown doing and saying anything. The face will be the same, the voice will also be the same, but everything is fake. And common people have no means to confirm what is real and what is fake. Therefore, people believe what they see. Modi said that it may not be understood now but the danger of Artificial Intelligence can cause big problems in future, hence there is a need to caution people about it.
An example of how fake videos can be misused happened in the Madhya Pradesh elections. Fake videos were used extensively during the elections. Congress and BJP made many complaints against each other in the Election Commission regarding this. After voting ended on Friday, Chief Minister Shivraj Chauhan alleged that Congress showed fake, false videos during the elections and tried to mislead the public. In fact, BJP has filed about two dozen complaints of false propaganda and false propaganda, most of these complaints are about videos which have been made by superimposing fake sounds and graphics on other videos. Many such videos were widely spread through social media in Madhya Pradesh. A video showed Shivraj Singh telling the ministers and officers during the cabinet meeting that ‘the public is very angry… BJP can lose by a huge margin… so do anything… go to every village, Go to the booth…do whatever you have to do…now is the time…do everything right…manage…’ The real video is of Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s last cabinet meeting before the announcement of elections. The video was original, but the voice in it is not that of Shivraj Singh Chauhan. Chauhan’s voice was copied exactly and superimposed on the video. A complaint was lodged with the police about the WhatsApp groups through which this video was spread. The police investigated and got such videos removed from all social media platforms. Such videos were circulated by people associated with Congress. Dozens of such videos were made.
The original clip of ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ was tampered. The entire content was changed by changing the voices of the host and contestants. Through this video, an attempt was made to give the message that Shivraj Singh only makes announcements and does not implement them. The host of the show Kaun Banega Crorepati was Amitabh Bachchan, but everyone’s voice was fake. By superimposing voice and inserting graphics, an attempt was made to make it appear as if the question was actually asked in ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ and Shivraj Singh Chouhan was announced as the Chief Minister. Congress leaders and workers circulated it widely in Madhya Pradesh. Sony TV, the company telecasting ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’, had to give a clarification in which it was said that this is a fake video, the voices of the host and contestants have been tampered with, a complaint has been lodged in the cyber crime cell. Sony TV appealed to people not to share such videos. Similarly, famous actor Kartik Aryan was also caught in such a misleading fake campaign. Some supporter of Congress with blue tick shared a video of Kartik Aryan and wrote the caption with it that now Kartik Aryan has also started supporting Congress. Since Kartik Aryan is from Madhya Pradesh, his video was deliberately used for this fake campaign. The special thing about this video was that Congress’ election symbol ‘paw’ was also used in it. Karthik Aryan issued a clarification the very next day and said that the video which is being tampered with for politics is an ad of an OTT platform, which was doctored and made an advertisement of Congress.
The problem of fake videos is serious. Now with AI and DEEP FAKE this danger has increased even more. Amitabh Bachchan’s popularity was misused to defame Shivraj Singh during the elections, the credibility of a big show like KBC was misused, this is a dangerous trend. By the time the complaints reached the Election Commission and an FIR was lodged with the police, a lot of damage had already been done. These are just some examples. Nowadays, fake videos appear on everyone’s phone every day, but most people do not take them seriously. Those who take it seriously have no way of knowing the truth of these videos. Every day five-six people send me videos and ask, is this real or fake? India TV has a team which verifies such videos but the internet is an ocean, its network is spread in every corner. It is impossible to verify all the videos. The second thing is that two-three years ago it used to take two-three days to prepare a fake video, a lot of high definition footage was required for it, now there is a lot of software available. Fake videos are ready in four-five hours. It has become even easier to add fake sounds to a video and lip sync match. Fake videos can defame someone overnight and can instigate people’s emotions, hence it is a big threat to the society. There is another aspect to this. That is, if the video of a leader is genuine, even if he is caught taking bribe, if his video is recorded while giving recommendations, then he will easily say that this video is fake. Get a forensic investigation done, it will take months for the report to be completed. If the report comes against the report then questions will be raised on it, hence it is important to understand this danger. It is important to make people aware about this with the help of cyber experts, and we all have to be careful not to forward any video without verification and as Prime Minister Modi said, on fake videos and deep fakes, on AI, The first step is to label it as fake, fake, fraudulent. As technology advances further, this threat will increase and we will all need to be more cautious. The responsibility of media is very important in this entire issue. Let us keep people INFORMED, instead of giving credibility to AI and CHAT GPT, do not forget to call it fake wherever it is used. This is the responsibility of all of us. Technology should not be used unnecessarily. No one should be able to use fake videos and DEEP FAKE to tarnish anyone’s reputation. I want to say one more thing. I get complaints that someone is selling medicines by putting my photo, someone is talking about giving jobs in media in my name, someone has even sent fake phone messages in my name. My office has complained about all this to the police. You should also be careful, do not trust any fake advertisement, contact India TV when needed. Verify any such information. Any information about me is posted from my own or India TV’s official handle. Trust only that which is verified. (Rajat Sharma)
Watch: ‘Aaj Ki Baat, Rajat Sharma Sath’ full episode of November 17, 2023
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