'This has been happening': Chinmayi Sripaada on 'deepfake' danger in wake of Rashmika Mandanna's viral video

A deepfake video of actress Rashmika Mandanna has sparked widespread concern about the potential misuse of artificial intelligence.

Reacting to the issue, singer Chinmayi Sripaada stressed that the exploitation of such technology extends beyond celebrities to the general public.

Sripaada's stance highlights the urgency for legal recourse to combat this growing threat.

Highlighting the serious implications of AI misuse, she described it as a formidable tool for extortion, blackmail and even sexual assault against women.

She underscored the challenges faced by women who are harassed by loan apps using photoshopped images, warning that deepfakes pose a more insidious risk due to their realistic appearance, which may deceive the average person, particularly those without access to high-resolution displays.

"Loan apps harass women borrowers with photoshopped images of their faces over porn photos and they cant deal with that. But a Deep Fake is going to be tougher for the usual untrained eye to spot. Everyone doesn’t have high-res displays," she said in a post on 'X'.

In a conversation with DH, Sripaada further emphasised that the issue is not new. "It's the not the first time such morphed videos are circulated. It has been happening from a long time on private Instagram accounts," she said.

Taking her concern on 'X' , Sripaada urged for a nationwide awareness campaign to educate people about the dangers of deepfake technology.

She called for public education on identifying deepfakes and encouraged individuals to report such abuses to authorities rather than taking matters into their own hands.

"I truly hope there is a nationwide awareness campaign that can kickstart urgently to educate the general public about the dangers of deepfakes for girls and to report incidents instead of taking matters into their own hands", she said.