Actor Ranveer Singh lodged a police complaint on Monday, April 22, against an AI-generated deepfake video that has been making rounds on social media. In the deepfake, the actor’s visuals from his trip to Varanasi have been used with an AI-enabled voice clone to make it appear as though he is endorsing the Indian National Congress (INC).
In the 41-seconds video, actor Ranveer appears to be supporting the Congress in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections while criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not fulfilling his campaign promises and ignoring important economic issues.
“This is the purpose of Modi ji. His aim was to celebrate our sad life, our pain, our unemployment, our inflation. Because we, who are the Bharatvarsh (people of India), are now moving towards the time of injustice. We are moving so fast. But, we should never forget to ask for our development, our justice. So, think and vote.” Ranveer appears to be saying in the deepfake video following which, a text message – ‘Vote for Nyay, Vote for Congress,’ appears.
On Friday, April 19, Ranveer took to X (formerly known as Twitter) and reacted, “Deepfake se bacho dostonnnn” which roughly translates to “Friends, beware of Deepfake”.
The official spokesperson of the actor confirmed on Monday, that the actor has lodged a complaint with the police. He said, “Yes, we have filed the police complaint and a First Information Report (FIR) has been lodged against the handle that was promoting the AI-generated deepfake video of Mr. Ranveer Singh”.
Read: AI deepfakes are here to stay, can India’s laws keep up?
On April 15, a similar video of actor Aamir Khan criticising Narendra Modi went viral on social media platforms forcing the actor to file a case with the Mumbai police. According to media reports, a 10-year-old video clip of Aamir Khan from his show ‘Satyamev Jayate’ was used with an AI-enabled voice clone.
In the video, Khan was heard saying, “There are two types of guarantees in elections – the good ones and bad ones. The bad news is that catchline promises have been made to ruin your life. But the good news is that, this time, there are five Nyay (justices) for your development.” Following this 27 second clip, a text message – ‘Vote for Nyay, Vote for Congress,’ was featured, the NDTV reported. However, the police are yet to find the person who created the deepfake.