{"id":6280,"date":"2016-07-11T10:55:37","date_gmt":"2016-07-11T05:25:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6280"},"modified":"2016-07-11T10:55:37","modified_gmt":"2016-07-11T05:25:37","slug":"deep-fakes-have-infiltrated-indian-politics-where-will-they-go-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=6280","title":{"rendered":"Deep Fakes Have Infiltrated Indian Politics. Where Will They Go Next?"},"content":{"rendered":"\nE<\/span>ver since mankind started inventing things, we\u2019ve been obsessed with automation. Just a few days ago, Elon Musk<\/a> assured me that my car will soon be able to understand my thoughts and feelings and possibly even do my taxes. It appears we will not rest until artificial intelligence is given to everything from a screwdriver to the computers that contain our most precious information.\n\nThe human race\u2019s obsession with AI<\/a> is even more striking, considering there exist few sci-fi stories that paint a rosy picture of the outcome. From Terminator<\/em> to I, Robot<\/em> to The Matrix<\/a><\/em>, it seems that nearly every scenario we have envisioned tells us that giving anything more than basic Excel spreadsheet skills to a machine is dangerous. They all end up with the same conclusion: Humans are the problem. There are too many humans. Let\u2019s kill all the humans. End Code.\n\nIt\u2019s in this mess that we\u2019ve been introduced to another terror, deep fakes. Over the past few years, the technology needed to map a person\u2019s voice has been steadily improving. Although far from perfect, one can manipulate audio to, say make Barack Obama<\/a> rap like 2Pac, or Amit Shah say something nice about minorities. This, when coupled with a virtual avatar that looks a lot like the real thing, is a recipe for disaster, and gives us just an idea of what deep fakes are capable of.\n\nAnd yet, the march to improve AI continues unhindered. Recently, Samsung\u2019s Neon project unveiled a new AI Humanoid Chatbot. Now, if the words AI Humanoid Chatbot do not instil in you an automatic reflex to call your real estate agent and inquire about available post-apocalyptic bunkers in your area, congratulations! You still have your innocence!\n\nThe AI chatbot is effectively a virtual avatar that \u2014 from early visuals online \u2014 looks surprisingly lifelike. Rather than do anything useful, like telling you the weather or reminding you to pay your taxes<\/a>, these bots are merely there to converse with you and make you think you\u2019re interacting with a real human. Over time, I assume they would begin to behave more lifelike, allowing them to take on the roles of news anchors, virtual receptionists, actors, and teachers.\n\n

All sci-fi stories end up with the same conclusion: Humans are the problem.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nNow, it should be said that Neon has assured everyone that privacy is their top priority. But then, so did Facebook, and now everyone knows my relationship status<\/a> is a frown smiley, so any assurance given by tech companies should be viewed with scepticism. Because, even considering the remotest possibility that the company has the best intentions, there is always a human waiting to use technology to prey on other humans. Incidentally, it is this tendency that makes AI\u2019s argument for killing all of us so compelling.\n\nTo take a more real-world example, a recent Vice report<\/a>, investigated how the technology behind deep fakes was used by the BJP in their recently concluded, albeit unsuccessful, election campaign in Delhi. While AAP\u2019s Arvind Kejriwal was out campaigning and giving speeches like a real boy, the BJP decided to use tech to sidestep the language barrier. According to the report, videos emerged of Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari speaking multiple languages, including Haryanvi \u2014 a language he has no proficiency in \u2014 and English, in a bid to speak the language of each voter.\n\nShared on WhatsApp<\/a>, the video went viral and reached over a million people. It contained what\u2019s referred to as a \u201clip-sync deep fake\u201d, where the person\u2019s voice is dubbed and their lips replaced to make it appear like they are speaking the words.\n\nDeep fakes are not necessarily new. The adult film industry<\/a> has been pasting celebrity faces on pornstar bodies for years now (a \u201cfriend\u201d informs me that these videos are getting more realistic with each passing month). Considering the adult film industry has always been at the forefront of new technology (it\u2019s in their best interest, after all), the quality of deepfakes is only going to keep improving.\n\nWith the technology getting better and more accessible, there is the very realistic and worrying prospect of deep fakes being used to spread misinformation. Think revenge porn, or politicians<\/a> spreading conflicting messages to appeal to different voter groups\u2026,or revenge porn. Seriously, anyone with an ex with even the slightest proficiency in IT should be a tad worried at this point.\n\n

The AI chatbot is effectively a virtual avatar that \u2014 from early visuals online \u2014 looks surprisingly lifelike.<\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nIn a world where social media allows us to spread information like never before, or where a bored aunt or grandparent<\/a> is ever ready to blast everyone in their WhatsApp universe with a piece of sensationalist news, this is immensely problematic. Imagine a video of Donald Trump<\/a> declaring war on Iran shows up online, complete with his voice, silly hair and orange skin. Or a video of Christopher Nolan<\/a> saying he would cast Tiger Shroff in all his upcoming films.\n\nBoth these scenarios are likely to cause panic across the world (different worlds of course), causing damage that will take years to be undone.\n\nBasically, we\u2019re reaching a tipping point, where the intention to spread misinformation<\/a> is just about coinciding with the technology to make it believable and an unprecedented ability to spread it at zero cost. For now, we can rest uneasy knowing that the technology is still a long way from being truly convincing. So, enjoy your chat with a virtual Beyonce. Engage in healthy banter with a Rajdeep Sardesai bot. But for the sake of sanity, if Beyonce starts asking for your mother\u2019s maiden name or the city in which you were born, exercise some caution.\n\nWe can\u2019t go about blaming AI if we\u2019re being just plain stupid.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past few years, the technology needed to map a person\u2019s voice has been steadily improving. Although far from perfect, this, when coupled with a virtual avatar that looks a lot like the real thing, is a recipe for disaster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":309,"featured_media":6281,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[197],"tags":[2097,10295,2098,10296,10297,2100,939],"class_list":["post-6280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-ai","tag-ai-humanoid-chatbot","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-chatbots","tag-editing","tag-elon-musk","tag-whatsapp"],"yoast_head":"\nDeep Fakes Have Infiltrated Indian Politics. Where Will They Go Next?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Over the past few years, the technology needed to map a person\u2019s voice has been steadily improving. Although far from perfect, this, when coupled with a virtual avatar that looks a lot like the real thing, is a recipe for disaster.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6280\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Deep Fakes Have Infiltrated Indian Politics. Where Will They Go Next?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Over the past few years, the technology needed to map a person\u2019s voice has been steadily improving. Although far from perfect, this, when coupled with a virtual avatar that looks a lot like the real thing, is a recipe for disaster.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6280\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arr\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-11T05:25:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1582540678.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adhirath Sethi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Deep Fakes Have Infiltrated Indian Politics. Where Will They Go Next?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Over the past few years, the technology needed to map a person\u2019s voice has been steadily improving. Although far from perfect, this, when coupled with a virtual avatar that looks a lot like the real thing, is a recipe for disaster.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adhirath Sethi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6280#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6280\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Adhirath Sethi\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4c31442fba494aba716ba633a98a6b74\"},\"headline\":\"Deep Fakes Have Infiltrated Indian Politics. Where Will They Go Next?\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-11T05:25:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6280\"},\"wordCount\":984,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6280#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1582540678.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Ai\",\"AI Humanoid chatbot\",\"Artificial Intelligence\",\"chatbots\",\"editing\",\"Elon Musk\",\"Whatsapp\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6280\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6280\",\"name\":\"Deep Fakes Have Infiltrated Indian Politics. Where Will They Go Next?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6280#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6280#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1582540678.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-11T05:25:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4c31442fba494aba716ba633a98a6b74\"},\"description\":\"Over the past few years, the technology needed to map a person\u2019s voice has been steadily improving. Although far from perfect, this, when coupled with a virtual avatar that looks a lot like the real thing, is a recipe for disaster.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6280#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6280\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6280#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1582540678.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1582540678.jpg\",\"width\":1520,\"height\":850},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=6280#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Deep Fakes Have Infiltrated Indian Politics. Where Will They Go Next?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arr\u00e9\",\"description\":\"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4c31442fba494aba716ba633a98a6b74\",\"name\":\"Adhirath Sethi\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8e43962f1f859b5a8f090b6bdd0b71a056d01d759e14507a529fdaa6bf4aeec0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8e43962f1f859b5a8f090b6bdd0b71a056d01d759e14507a529fdaa6bf4aeec0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8e43962f1f859b5a8f090b6bdd0b71a056d01d759e14507a529fdaa6bf4aeec0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Adhirath Sethi\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?author=309\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Deep Fakes Have Infiltrated Indian Politics. Where Will They Go Next?","description":"Over the past few years, the technology needed to map a person\u2019s voice has been steadily improving. Although far from perfect, this, when coupled with a virtual avatar that looks a lot like the real thing, is a recipe for disaster.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6280","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Deep Fakes Have Infiltrated Indian Politics. Where Will They Go Next?","og_description":"Over the past few years, the technology needed to map a person\u2019s voice has been steadily improving. Although far from perfect, this, when coupled with a virtual avatar that looks a lot like the real thing, is a recipe for disaster.","og_url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6280","og_site_name":"Arr\u00e9","article_published_time":"2016-07-11T05:25:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1520,"height":850,"url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1582540678.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Adhirath Sethi","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Deep Fakes Have Infiltrated Indian Politics. Where Will They Go Next?","twitter_description":"Over the past few years, the technology needed to map a person\u2019s voice has been steadily improving. Although far from perfect, this, when coupled with a virtual avatar that looks a lot like the real thing, is a recipe for disaster.","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Adhirath Sethi","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6280#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6280"},"author":{"name":"Adhirath Sethi","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/4c31442fba494aba716ba633a98a6b74"},"headline":"Deep Fakes Have Infiltrated Indian Politics. Where Will They Go Next?","datePublished":"2016-07-11T05:25:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6280"},"wordCount":984,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6280#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1582540678.jpg","keywords":["Ai","AI Humanoid chatbot","Artificial Intelligence","chatbots","editing","Elon Musk","Whatsapp"],"articleSection":["Technology"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6280","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6280","name":"Deep Fakes Have Infiltrated Indian Politics. Where Will They Go Next?","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6280#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6280#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1582540678.jpg","datePublished":"2016-07-11T05:25:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/4c31442fba494aba716ba633a98a6b74"},"description":"Over the past few years, the technology needed to map a person\u2019s voice has been steadily improving. Although far from perfect, this, when coupled with a virtual avatar that looks a lot like the real thing, is a recipe for disaster.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6280#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6280"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6280#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1582540678.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1582540678.jpg","width":1520,"height":850},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6280#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Deep Fakes Have Infiltrated Indian Politics. Where Will They Go Next?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/","name":"Arr\u00e9","description":"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/4c31442fba494aba716ba633a98a6b74","name":"Adhirath Sethi","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e43962f1f859b5a8f090b6bdd0b71a056d01d759e14507a529fdaa6bf4aeec0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e43962f1f859b5a8f090b6bdd0b71a056d01d759e14507a529fdaa6bf4aeec0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e43962f1f859b5a8f090b6bdd0b71a056d01d759e14507a529fdaa6bf4aeec0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Adhirath Sethi"},"url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?author=309"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1582540678.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/309"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}