Hyderabad: A video showing Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who supports the supposed mobile application called Quantum AI, called the government project, has gone viral on social media.
In the video, you can see Lok Sabha member Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asking Nirmala Sitharaman during a parliamentary session on “Mobile application that can earn 5 rakrupees a month” for all users. In response, the Finance Minister said it is government projects that require thorough testing. She also says, “I will record an official video presentation so that our citizens can earn up to 5 Rs.”
In the following video clip, the Finance Minister supports “Quantum AI” and praises it as cutting-edge Indian technology. She is seen urging people to invest 21,000 in the platform on the same day, and recommending citizens who may run out of spots.
The minister said, “All people investing Rs 21,000 today are all who earn between Rs 40,000 and Rs 60,000 in 24 hours. This project was created for people and has been approved for tax-free transactions by the Ministry of Finance.”
This video is shared as a Facebook ad and has a link attached. (archive)
Fact check
The newsmeter has found the claim to be false. Viral videos are operated using artificial intelligence (AI).
No news reports or trustworthy social media posts were found using keyword searches to indicate that the Federal Treasury had announced the project under the name “Quantum AI.” There was no information on this on the official Treasury website.
The viral video contains three video clips and two video clips. Two show the union finance minister of Nirmala Sitharaman, and the one shows Priyanka Gandhi, a member of Lok Sabha.
Reverse image search for keyframes led to an expanded version of the three video clips used in virus ads.
Clip 1
In the first video clip, Congressman Priyanka Gandhi speaks in Parliament, speaking in Parliament, while other Congressmen Hibi Eden, Dean Kuriakose and S Jothimani can also be seen in frame.
The video showing the same visual was uploaded to YouTube on July 29 by Excelsior News. The video shows the same councillor sitting behind Priyanka Gandhi, wearing the same clothes as the viral video.
The explanation says in the video it shows Priyanka Gandhi speaks in Congress during the discussions on Operation Sindoah. This led me to a live stream of the July 29th Congressional Session uploaded by DD News.
Priyanka Gandhi's speech begins with the 3:22:46 hour mark and ends at 3:50:53 hour. During her speech, the councillors did not mention Quantum AI and did not question the Minister of Finance about “a mobile application that can earn Rs 5 per month for all users.”
Clip 2
The second clip shows Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman speaking in Congress in Red and White Saree. I found the same visual on a live streamed video by ANI News on December 17th, 2024.
The video shows the parliamentary session that took place on the same day. The Finance Minister begins speaking on the four-hour mark on the video, closing with the 5:14:13 hour mark. In this video, Nirmala Sitharaman did not address questions about quantum AI.
Clip 3
The final video clip shows the finance minister in a grey checkered sari, on a blue podium holding the top half of the state's coat of arms, with vertical stripes behind her.
Videos showing these exact same visuals were uploaded to YouTube on March 1st by Hindus. In this description, this video shows Nirmala Sitharaman, who is primarily on the 49th civil account date.
The Ministry of Finance live streamed its 49th Civil Account Day celebration in New Delhi on March 1st. In the long, 3 hours and 21 minutes live stream, Nirmala Sitharaman will give a 30-minute, 30-minute inaugural speech from 58:57am to 1:27:29pm mark.
During the meeting, the Minister of Finance made no comments regarding Quantum AI.
How about the audio from virus video??
I tested two audio samples from a virus video using the Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector.
When testing Priyanka Gandhi's audio samples, Hiya determined that the audio is likely to be Deep Fark with a reliability score of 13 out of 100.
Hiya also determined that the Minister of Finance's audio clip was Deepfark with reliability scores of 3 out of 100.
What about the linked website?
In some places on the viral video, the Finance Minister refers to the links attached to Facebook ads and invites people to invest in quantum AI trading platforms. The link reads “Future-India”. However, a link will lead to a page where content similar to the content on the “Swayam” website is entered.
Swayam (Active Learning Research Network for Young and Ambitious Minds) is an open online course platform developed by the Indian government. However, the website options do not work.
The website does not contain any information about quantum AI. (archive)
Below is a screenshot of the website.
Did the Minister of Finance support quantum AI?
In the past, there have been several videos showing Nirmala Sitharaman, who is talking about trading platforms, going viral on social media. However, Newsmeter discovered that they are AI-generated videos. Please see here, here, here.
On September 9th, Press Information Bureau (PIB) also posted to X regarding quantum AI ads, which stated that “the Minister of Finance does not approve such investment platforms/products.”
The viral video was created using Deepfark technology to mimic the voice of the Finance Minister. Various video clips of Finance Minister and Congressman Priyanka Gandhi have been digitally modified to create viral videos.
The newsmeter therefore concludes that the virus claim is false. The Minister of Finance does not support an app called Quantum AI, and viral videos are manipulated using AI.
