A man's misuse of technology to create an erotic persona from a real woman's image has raised serious concerns over privacy and consent, urging calls for stronger regulations against AI misuse.**
Deepfake Scandal Unfolds: Indian Woman's Image Misused for Erotic AI Content**
Deepfake Scandal Unfolds: Indian Woman's Image Misused for Erotic AI Content**
The alarming case of an Indian woman's identity theft using AI-generated deepfakes highlights the rising threat of digital deception in the online space.**
In an unsettling turn of events, a man in India has been arrested for using advanced AI technology to create a fake Instagram persona, "Babydoll Archi," that misappropriated the identity of a local woman known as Sanchi from Dibrugarh. The fraudulent account rapidly gained popularity, skyrocketing to 1.4 million followers in a matter of days, after a slew of viral posts that featured seductive dance videos and celebrity interactions.
The deception unraveled when Sanchi's brother filed a police complaint, leading investigators to discover that Pratim Bora—Sanchi's ex-boyfriend and a self-taught AI enthusiast—had manipulated photos of her to craft the fraudulent Babydoll Archi identity as an act of revenge following their breakup. Senior police officer Sizal Agarwal revealed that Bora employed tools like ChatGPT to enhance the AI likeness, creating explicit deepfake content that not only misrepresented Sanchi but also generated substantial revenue.
Following the complaint, police were able to trace Bora and arrested him, seizing his digital devices, which contained evidence of the monetized fake account. Reports indicate that Bora earned around 1 million rupees in five days, with 3,000 subscribers on his linked accounts before his arrest on July 12. Sanchi, meanwhile, faces significant emotional distress, and her family is now receiving counseling services.
While this incident highlights the dark side of rapidly advancing technologies like deepfake, it poses challenging questions about the adequacy of current laws to address such digital misconduct. Legal experts stress the necessity for legislative measures that prevent identity theft while balancing the protection of free speech rights in the context of generative AI use.
Calls for stronger regulations are intensifying within social media circles as well, with suggestions that platforms must bolster their response strategies against the proliferation of deepfake content. Meanwhile, the investigation into Bora's actions continues, centering around allegations of sexual harassment, defamation, and cybercrime. If convicted, he could face up to ten years in prison—a notion echoing the unfolding dialogue about digital ethics in the age of AI.
