Kanyakumari Congress candidate Vijay Vasanth used a deepfake video of his late father in his campaign.
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A deepfake video of late Congress leader Kanyakumari H. Vasanthakumar was used in his son Vijay Vasanth's election campaign.
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A video of late Congress leader H. Vasanthakumar from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu speaking in Tamil is being shared on social media platforms. The election campaign of his son, Vijay Vasant, can be heard, who is a parliamentary candidate in the Congress.
What does Vasanthakumar say?: Mr. Vasanthakumar, who speaks in Tamil, expresses his faith in his son Vijay Vasanath. He also called him the constituency's “successor” who would work for the upliftment of the people of Kanyakumari.
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He also said public life “came to a halt” while in office. Vasanthakumar said in the video that he was “physically distant” but was still present “mentally.”
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He added that due to this, he could not achieve his goal of development in Kanyakumari and his son Vijay will take over this promise.
but..? The Congress leader died from the coronavirus in 2020.
So how is he campaigning for his son? This video is a deepfake generated using artificial intelligence tools. The video was released in April.
When we ran the video through AI detection websites like Hive Moderation and TrueMedia, they concluded that the clip was generated by AI.
Hive moderation: The tool concluded that 80% of inputs were likely to contain AI or deepfake content.
Below is a copy of the results provided by Hive Moderation.
True Media: Similarly, TrueMedia also concluded that the video contained input generated via AI.
Below is a copy of the results provided by TrueMedia.
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A spokesperson for Congress leader and Kanyakumari MP candidate Vijay Vasanth told Reuters that his team used AI to create a two-minute clip, which was shared on social media platforms, depicting his late father Vasanth Kumar. He said the video showed him campaigning for him.
Other deepfakes of politicians/celebrities
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Apart from the Congress, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has released an AI-generated audio clip of late leader J. Jayalalithaa seeking support from party general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. was published.
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Similar AI-generated content was used by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in January. An AI-generated video of late DMK leader M Karunanidhi was aired during the book launch.
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Apart from these, Team WebQoof It also debunked an edited video of celebrities like Aamir Khan and Ranveer Singh campaigning for their political parties in the elections.
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