Deepfakes reveal dark side of AI, call for stringent laws

New Delhi, Nov 12: Deepfakes, which first emerged on the scene in 2019 with fake videos of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, are the 21st century’s alternative to Photoshopping --- creating images and videos of celebrities via a form of artificial intelligence (AI) called deep learning.

If you have seen former US President Barack Obama calling Donald Trump a “complete dipshit”, or Zuckerberg having “total control of billions of people’s stolen data” -- and more recently a deepfake video of actor Rashmika Mandana that went viral on social media – you probably know what deepfake is.

According to experts, the prevalence of deepfakes, which are compelling and AI-generated videos or audio recordings, has witnessed a notable increase in recent times. According to Sonit Jain, CEO of GajShield Infotech, this surge can be attributed to the growing accessibility of deep fake technology and its application in various domains.
“Deepfakes have found utility in entertainment, political manipulation, and even fraudulent activities. Data protection and privacy laws should be strengthened to limit the collection and use of personal data for deepfake creation without explicit consent,” Jain told IANS. Deepfakes can be used in phishing attacks, convincing employees to take actions that compromise security.

Abhishek Malhotra, Managing Partner at TMT Law Practice, said that technological advancement comes with a dark side, and unfortunately, this time, the impact is rather nasty.
“Similar experiences were faced by actor Anil Kapoor, and he rightly approached the court of law for resolution. As would be logical in such situations, the court upheld the personal rights of the actor and recognised his right to prevent the abuse and misuse of his reputation and goodwill,” Malhotra said.

In September, the Delhi High Court issued an interim order protecting the personality rights of Kapoor and restraining various entities from misusing his image, name, voice, or other elements of his persona for financial gain without his consent.

Kapoor sought protection of his personality rights, aiming to prevent various entities, including unidentified individuals, from violating his personality rights by using his name, acronym 'AK,' nicknames like 'Lakhan,' 'Mr. India,' 'Majnu Bhai,' and the phrase 'Jhakaas,' as well as his voice and images, for commercial gain without his permission.