MP Shashi Tharoor is angry over his AI-generated “fake news” video claiming that Pakistan resolved the T20 World Cup standoff with India.
The 24-second video, which is said to be a deepfake, may have been superimposed on an exchange that Congressional leaders had with members of the media from inside a car. Watermarks from popular news agencies are included to make it look authentic.
However, there were some dead giveaways in the video, which Tharoor easily spotted. “…I can’t say I’m very good at it. I can’t speak or speak,” Tharoor posted on X.
The former diplomat, known for his impeccable command of the English language, could never fake it. For example, consider the first part of a sentence. “I thought Pakistan played great. I don’t know what they would do on the field, but what they did diplomatically was absolutely brilliant.”
The above sentence has problems with grammar, punctuation, and, of course, flow. As for “I don’t know what they will do on the field,” Tharoor should at least say “perform” instead of “will,” as he has proven time and time again that his vocabulary is more reliable than anything else.
Also, Tharoor is more likely to say “absolute brilliance” than absolute brilliance. Of course, the accent is nothing like Tharoor.
This video was posted to X by an authenticated user with credentials based in Pakistan at least 20 hours before the time of writing this report. The union government’s new IT rules, due to come into force on February 20, state that deepfake videos will be removed from social media platforms within three hours.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had initially announced that the national team would not play India in the group match of the T20 World Cup to be held in Colombo on February 15, following a request from the government, but recently changed its mind.
