In today’s digital age, social media has become a thriving hub for creativity and expression. However, amidst the sea of genuine content creators, there lurks a new threat: deepfake technology. Recently, an alarming case has surfaced where an Instagram account is using an AI-generated face to steal other’s content.
On her Instagram bio, Ira Sharma describes herself as “A normal girl” who loves “bgms and songs.” She has also mentioned that she’s not “real” but an alien. Well, the last line seems to be correct because Ira Sharma isn’t a real person, even though she has over 2,60,000 followers.
Also read: Meta toAI-generated images on FB, Instagram & Threads: Know more
The account @me_ira.sharma is a deepfake influencer created by stealing videos of young Indian women on Instagram, and then changing their faces, reports Decode.
Also read: Meta to launch fact-checking helpline amidst AI-generated fake news surge
Decode traced at least three videos that the account copied and changed using a generative-AI face. These videos belonged to other women and teenage content creators on Instagram.
The team led by Professor Mayank Vatsa at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur tested the videos using their detection tool called ‘itisaar.’ This tool uses a set of algorithms to find digital changes in audio, video, or images.
The analysis revealed that all the samples were altered or edited, with many inconsistencies in each of them.
Decode also discovered nine additional Instagram accounts that were using similar variations of the username Ira Sharma and sharing the same deepfake content. The primary account, me_ira.sharma, was also mentioning some of these fake accounts in its Instagram Stories.
Additionally, a tenth account, created in January 2021, was using a different fake name, Ishita Choudhary, but was still posting the same videos.
In 2022, India joined the AI-influencer trend with Kyra, the country’s first virtual influencer, along with others like Myntra’s Maya and the more recent addition, Naina.
The key difference between Ira Sharma and the others is that those AI influencers have openly acknowledged their synthetic or virtual nature, and their content is original, not copied from someone else’s work.
