Deep fake scare: Commissionerate Police trains special team to curb menace during General Elections

Amid growing concern over the spread of deep fake videos all over the globe, the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Commissionerate police has trained a special team of police officers to curb the menace during the upcoming General Elections.

Speaking to the reporters, Bhubaneswar DCP Prateek Singh said, “We have conducted a workshop for police officers. We have invited experts from a famous fact-checking website to train our officers. Those experts are quite experienced and they can identify a fake video in a very short period of time.”

“They trained our officers in some particular features which can become vital to identify a fake video,” Singh said.

Welcoming the move, cyber expert Prashant Sahu said, “Deep Fake technology was originally invented to be used in movies. But it is now being used with malicious intentions. It can become more dangerous if used in elections. Recently a deep fake video with Amitabh Bachhan’s face was circulated during Madhya Pradesh election. Not even the face, but the voice can also be cloned. So it is imperative for people to distinguish between an original and fake video.”

Recently, actress Kajol fell prey to a deep fake controversy after an internet influencer morphed the actress’ face into herself.

The video in question showed the influencer’s face being replaced with that of Kajol. The clip showed Kajol changing clothes on camera. The original video was of the influencer, and Kajol’s face had been morphed into the video.

Before Kajol, actress Rashmika Mandanna and Katrina Kaif’s deep fake videos had also been circulated on social media.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also flagged the misuse of artificial intelligence for creating 'deep fakes', and said the media must educate people about this crisis in making.