AI FOR ARTIFICIAL INSULT

On September 15, Union minister of culture and tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat took to social media to lecture the 'Congress IT Cell Al over-enthusi-asts' on how artificial intelligence is meant for 'innovation, information and healthy entertainment' and not for 'insult, imitation or intended hurt'.

- Kaushik Deka with Rohit Parihar, Arkamoy Datta Majumdar, Kavitha Muralidharan and Dhaval S. Kulkarni

The rebuke was perhaps triggered by a recent AI video, posted by the Bihar Congress, showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mother visiting him in his dream and admonishing him over playing politics in her name. The social media clip set off a furious row over the slight to the prime minister and his late mother. Fair point: the video was crass, and has rightly invited a legal notice. But Shekhawat's moral policing would carry more weight if he offered the same advice to his own party's IT cell. From Rahul Gandhi to Gaurav Gogoi and other leaders, the BJP's online machinery has for years been churning out a steady stream of smear videos packed with innuendo.

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