DailyPost 2669
DEEPFAKE CONCERN
Showing concern and finding a solution or make serious concerted efforts to move in its direction are two different things. You can even call the approaches diametrically opposite. The first one is lip service, an urge to be known to be with the cause and the latter to conquer the issue, however long it may take. It has to be tackled once and for all in the interest of societal sanity, in all its manifestations. Perseverance and strategy automatically come with this approach. The stakeholders should be ready to engage on a consistent basis in a relentless manner. If it were to be protracted, so it be.
If the issue is end up in a war of attrition, that too would be tackled and one would try to be at the top in the war of attrition. DeepFake is not new anymore and it has provided enough of a chance to pull our socks. Sachin Tendulkar’s deepfake video has raised serious concerns and rightly so. But is that enough. Have we not raised concerns earlier as well? What has come out of it? Who is acting on our concerns? If you try and address an issue in the stratosphere, you are not going to the result on the ground. Artificial Intelligence is also nothing new and we clearly saw this coming, and we decided to be bystanders. Ease of temporary living is our slogan.
All stakeholders, that is what is surprising. This is not a social disease, which can be tackled by social reform movements. This is a doubled edged sword, ripping us apart both from the legal side and technical for sure, which all of us are aware of. There is no clear-cut legal protection. The investigation teeth are completely missing. Quite a few would have experienced it too, to their agony. The movement for ethical AI, has been gaining some traction the world over, but we have decided to keep away from it. Fortunately, there are tech eagles who have picked up cudgels against their own lot, but other are not ready to support them. One of the biggest digital thinkers of our times, Yuval Noah Harai appropriately wrote, that if we don’t engage with the issues of our times, then if the fall out is detrimental to us, we are to be blamed.
AI as a general-purpose technology in one such issue, which the industry, country and world has to resolve. Has the civil society risen against it? It is not a celebrity issue; it is ripping life of normal common men and women. There are apps which can put you shame. With much hassle for half a decade we have barely reached the threshold of the data protection and privacy, when will reach to the level of an AI Act and a variant or a part of it dealing with DeepFakes, in its entirety. On the technical side, has the industry taken any initiative, or have they been forced to do that? Only tech can outsmart tech and no other means can. Rest can complement and supplement.
TECH AND A COLLABORATIVE LEGALLY ENABLED STRATEGY & ACTION IS THE ONLY WAY FORWARD.
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.