Unraveling the Deepfake dilemma: Balancing technology, ethics, and legislation in the digital age

The creation of deepfakes depicting individuals engaged in fabricated and non-consensual acts raises profound ethical concerns, potentially leading to devastating consequences such as extortion, humiliation, and harassment. As the understanding of deepfake dynamics advances, addressing these ethical challenges becomes imperative to safeguard individuals from malicious exploitation.

- PROF. JYOTIRMOY BANERJEE & PROF. PRACHILEKHA SAHOO

The recent upheaval involving an AI Deepfake featuring actress Ms. Rashmika Mandana has resonated profoundly among the masses, highlighting shared vulnerabilities, pressing security challenges, and growing concerns about privacy infringement in the digital age. This incident underscored the stark reality that even public figures like Ms. Rashmika Mandana are not immune to the threat of deepfakes, emphasizing the alarming ease with which individuals can be targeted, accessed, and manipulated through this advanced technology.

UNDERSTANDING DEEPFAKES

The emergence of deepfakes, a facet of artificial intelligence, poses a significant threat to society, extending from spreading misinformation to enabling malicious social engineering crimes. These sophisticated creations use cutting-edge technology to seamlessly graft one person’s face and voice onto another’s, producing videos where individuals appear to engage in actions they never did. This alarming capability raises concerns about the potential misuse of deepfakes for political propaganda, blackmail, and the production of deceitful content infiltrating various domains, including pornography, politics, art, acting, advertisements, entertainment, online memes, and social media.