Exclusive: Centre, State governments testing anti-deepfake tech, likely to launch this year

A day ago, cricketer Virat Kohli became the target of a deepfake video that criticized top-order batsman Shubman Gill. It's important to note that miscreants are not only using AI to spread malicious content but are also using deepfakes to manipulate video KYC (Know Your Customer) procedures of financial institutions in India.

Sources claim that for the past four months, both central and state law enforcement agencies and Forensic Science Laboratories (FSL) in the country have been testing anti-deepfake softwares not only to investigate crimes but also to detect them early. In July this year, India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE) warned investors about deepfake videos falsely featuring its CEO, Ashishkumar Chauhan, in some investment and stock advisory videos. 

Recently, the Mumbai police filed a case against the Maharashtra Youth Congress’ social media account and 16 others for allegedly sharing a deepfake video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Multiple well-known personalities, including Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Elon Musk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Tom Cruise, Scarlett Johansson, and Emma Watson, have also fallen victim to deepfake videos on the internet. Similar such cases have been reported widely across the country.

Sources told Storyboard18 that several states in the country are already using anti-deepfake technology for investigations and to detect the malicious use of AI for fraudulent purposes on the trial basis. It will be announced by the Central government this year.

A source from cybersecurity industry on condition of anonymity said, “State government like Maharashtra is already testing anti-deepfake software on trial basis. The central government will announce about this initiative this year.”  

Ankush Tiwari, Founder and CEO of Pi Labs, said, “We have seen multiple cases of deepfake videos targeting politicians and celebrities going viral on social media platforms. This is clearly mischievous and criminal. But beyond that, miscreants are also using deepfakes to manipulate financial institutions. With central government schemes directly linked to such bank accounts, these miscreants can easily bypass video KYC, causing the original beneficiaries to suffer.” 

Authentify by Finacus and Pi Labs, which helps detect deepfakes and prevent video KYC fraud, is working with multiple clients in the BFSI (Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance) sector. Tiwari explained, “Video KYC is under threat, and that threat comes from AI. So, we are using AI to combat AI’s malicious use. Authentify uses extensive training data of various synthetic content generated by different mechanisms and engines. With this engine, we detect any synthetic content in video and audio files.” 

Tiwari continued, “We’re seeing early signs of these cases occurring in the country. Fraud is being committed using cloned audio and recorded videos. I believe we are not far from witnessing the next Jamtara-like scams in the country. Overall, this is on the rise, and as a society, we need to be prepared. We are on a mission to protect our citizens, enterprises, and government from the malicious use of AI.” 

In November 2023, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that the government would begin drafting regulations specifically to address deepfakes. Vaishnaw after meeting multiple stakeholders and platforms had said, "We will start drafting the regulations today, and within a very short timeframe, we will have separate regulations for deepfakes,” Vaishnaw said.

The new regulations are expected to include penalties for those who upload or create deepfakes and may also establish guidelines to help users distinguish between deepfakes and original content.