On November 30th, voters in the southern Indian state of Telangana queued up to vote in legislative elections. The Congress party, in opposition nationally and in the state at the time, shared a seven-second fake clip on social media showing KT Rama Rao, a leader of the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samiti, calling on people to vote in favour of the Congress. The video was viewed over 500,000 times and was eventually proven to be fake.
The use of AI-generated, or manipulated, media has marred recent elections in India and poses a threat to the integrity of the country’s upcoming general elections. The ruling Bharat Rashtra Samiti party is reported to have used illusions, 3D hologram projections, and deepfakes for campaigning. The Congress party’s national coordinator for social media, Arun Reddy, has expressed enthusiasm for incorporating AI in campaigning, but notes a lack of “trained people” to execute these ideas.
AI startups in India are working with political parties to create deepfake videos and audios for campaigning purposes. With India having over 760 million internet users, the manipulation of voters through AI is becoming a common practice. According to analysts, the Election Commission of India needs to catch up with the changing nature of political campaigns and take action to minimize the damage caused by deepfakes.
The Indian government has asked major tech companies to moderate deepfakes on their platforms, but critics argue that this approach is flawed and doesn’t address the root of the problem. The rise of AI poses a grave risk to India’s election integrity, with low digital literacy and rising consumption of videos. The Internet Freedom Foundation has published an open letter urging electoral candidates and parties to voluntarily refrain from using deepfake technology, but the future looks dark as political campaigns continue to strengthen their AI capabilities.