South star Rashmika Mandanna on Monday said it was “extremely scary” how technology is being misused after her deepfake video went viral on social media, while her Goodbye co-star Amitabh Bachchan called for legal action.
Bachchan was the first to react after a fact checker posted the deepfake clip along with the original video of a British-Indian social media personality Zara Patel, and demanded an urgent need for a legal and regulatory framework to deal with deepfakes in India.
Reacting to the post, Bachchan said, “Yes, this is a strong case for legal”.
Mandanna also expressed her concern through Instagram, saying she was “really hurt” to see the video, which shows a woman dressed in black workout onesie inside an elevator. Her face has been edited using artificial intelligence (AI) to resemble Mandanna.
“I feel really hurt to share this and have to talk about the deep fake video of me being spread online. Something like this is honestly extremely scary not only for me but also for each one of us who today is vulnerable to so much harm because of how technology is being misused,” the actor, known for her roles in films such as “Pushpa”, “Mission Majnu” and the upcoming “Animal”, wrote.
“Today as a woman and as an actor, I am thankful for my family, friends, and well-wishers who are my protection and support system. But if this happened to me when I was in school or college, I genuinely can’t imagine how could I ever tackle this. We need to address this as a community and with urgency before more of us are affected by such identity,” Rashmika posted.
Deepfake is a digital method where users can replace one person’s likeness convincingly with that of another using AI technology.
