Former team India cricketer Sachin Tendulkar on Monday, January 15, became the latest celebrity to fall prey to deepfake video created through Artificial Intelligence (AI). In the viral video, a deepfake of Sachin Tendulkar can be seen promoting a mobile application, Skyward Aviator Quest, even going on to say that his daughter is currently playing this game.
Reacting to the video on X (formerly Twitter), Sachin wrote, “These videos are fake. It is disturbing to see rampant misuse of technology. Request everyone to report videos, ads & apps like these in large numbers. Social Media platforms need to be alert and responsive to complaints. Swift action from their end is crucial to stopping the spread of misinformation and deepfakes.”
A social media user, Saiyam Pathak, wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) handle, “Deepfake is really concerning and that is where we need to build strong detection engines that can detect.
If you watch this one closely , you can make out that its fake but when you are swiping its difficult and also this will improve and will look more and more real with the advancements in AI.
These deepfake. detectors will also get matured and will be integrated with all platforms to help remove this with collective efforts. With every rise in technology, there are bad actors always looking out for an opportunity.”
The former Indian national team cricketer is not the first celebrity to have fallen victim to deepfake videos. Indian actors Rashmika Mandanna, Alia Bhatt, and Priyanka Chopra had earlier voiced their concerns after similar videos of them surfaced on the internet. A few deepfake videos of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also circulated online in the recent past.
Deepfakes are a kind of synthetic media in which the facial appearance of a person is digitally manipulated to bear likeness to another using artificial intelligence. They can be identified by unnatural facial expression and/or movements such as frequent blinking, not blinking enough, and stiff movements. They also have blurry eyes that are unfocused and often do not match the person’s head movements.