On October 18th, the Software Freedom Law Center, India organized a workshop on the theme ‘AI and Elections: Building Resilience Against Deepfakes.’ The workshop aimed to explore and identify challenges posed by unregulated artificial intelligence and analyze the role of deepfakes in elections.
Kritika, Head of Fact Checking (India) at Logically Facts, addressed the challenges posed by audio cloning and deepfakes. These technologies are not only used to spread misinformation but also for satirical purposes. Thus, the misuse of artificial intelligence is a global concern, not limited to India.
She further differentiated between deepfakes and cheapfakes, noting that cheapfakes are less sophisticated than deepfakes.
The two major challenges highlighted were the erosion of trust and plausible deniability.
Syed Mohammad Haroon, a Fellow at SFLC, highlighted the legal remedies available to targeted individuals and emphasized an intersectional approach to understanding this practice.
He further discussed the distinction between personality rights and citizenship rights which ensure legal protection for every individual under the laws which is different than personality rights.
Pranay Dixit, Legal Fellow at SFLC.in, addressed the challenges posed by deepfakes, particularly the issue of hallucination and the role of human intervention in such cases. He then delved into the legal process for individuals to take action against deepfakes and the grievance redressal mechanism available through intermediaries.
In India, there is no specific legislation to tackle deepfakes directly. Therefore, grievances are primarily addressed by interpreting existing legal frameworks.
The workshop aimed to deliberate on the challenges and explore pragmatic options for fulfilling social responsibility and achieving objectives.
