Shaking Indian Office Bombarded Citizens Using Deepfake
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Indian officials and politicians are busy bombarding citizens with deepfake content based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. The use of deepfakes is not to spread misinformation and disinformation regarding political opponents, but rather to reach voters while campaigning.
A Wired report wrote that political parties in India are starting to use deepfake AI to interact with the public. They rely on the technology to navigate the country’s 22 official languages and thousands of regional dialects for campaigns. Their deepfake content will be personalized to each targeted community.
In fact, deepfakes in India have become a promising business. Wired noted that the opportunity reached US$ 60 million (Rp. 960.3 billion), quoted from Wired, Wednesday (22/5/2024).
Its use is also quite massive, with at least more than 50 million cloned votes spread over the two months leading up to the April election. Millions more were cast during voting day.
One of those who did this was local politician Shakti Sing Rathore. He used the services of a technology provider named Divyendra Singh Jadoun to convince 300 thousand voters around Ajmer.
Jadoun is the owner of Polymath Synthetic Media Solutions. It is one of the emerging providers of deepfakes for politicians.
How it works is that deepfake service providers will record the movements, speech and voice of politicians who want to campaign. From these recordings, the politician’s identity will then be cloned and personalized for anyone who wants to feel more ‘closer’ to interacting with the politician.
Jadoun has worked on five AI campaigns so far with a total payout of US$55 thousand (Rp. 880.2 million). Meanwhile, other political consultants charge US$1,500 (Rp. 24 million) and US$720 (Rp. 11.5 million) for digital avatars to clone votes.
Another company also working on AI for politicians is iToConnect. The company made 25 million AI-based personalized calls during the two weeks leading up to the elections in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
It turns out that the concept is also liked by many people. Because people in rural areas feel it is more important to get telephone calls from people in high positions.
“Voters typically want candidates to approach them, want candidates to talk to them. When candidates can’t do that, AI calls are the best way to reach them,” said technology executive at iToConnect, Abhishek Pasupulety.
SOURCE : CNBC INDONESIA
