Anup Soni calls his fake AI generated video promoting betting “scary and threating”

Actor Anup Soni was in for a shock when a viral video of him promoting a cricket bookie reached him through social media, and he realised he is the latest target of AI generated fake videos. The said clip is a collection of random portions from his popular show Crime Patrol that he anchored, where a superimposed AI generated audio of his voice, is asking people to bet in the ongoing season of IPL.

“I was baffled to see 31 million views on a video which was promoting an illegal act, with my video and voice attached to it. I was shocked to hear my voice on a video I never made,” says Soni, adding that while the video is his, the words used in the audio script have been picked from another video, narrated by his AI generated voice.

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“They have created my voice through AI. The content they have taken from another video. They haven’t taken the entire content but taken some lines and made it look the way it is,” shares the 45-year-old says, adding that the moment he saw the video, he decided to spread awareness about it with urgency. On his part, Soni has taken help from his friends to comment on the fake video, report it, and inform others about it not being genuine. He has also taken help to report the video online through cyber crime authorities.

Of late, several celebrities including Rashmika Mandanna, Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Ashutosh Rana among others have been at the receiving end of deepfake and AI generated videos of them doing the rounds on social media.

Soni further highlights how the bookie in the fake video doesn’t have any such content on his social media page and can easily get away if authorities nab him.

“What I understand is that they can get this video made and if tomorrow I complain and officials will reach out to him, he can say “maine thodi banaya hai ye”. He can say that somebody else has made it. Na mere page pe hai, na maine post kiya hai. Kisi ne mere page se kuch utha ke bana diya hai to how can I be responsible for that?’,” shares Soni sounding concerned.

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While several online game applications have been made legal by the government, and often has public figures endorsing it, Soni worries: “My fans might start following this betting person thinking that it is being promoted by me, it must be something legit. It is definitely scary. They have taken clippings from Crime Patrol and they have modulated the voice and the way I speak while walking. It is matching with it completely. Definitely it is threatening. Today you are using it to promote betting and a bookie to follow on Telegram. Even if 10 percent of the people who have viewed this video join this (channel) on Telegram, they will say that I am promoting him because actors do a lot of paid promotions.”