Nirmala warns of deepfake videos, urges stronger AI defence

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said that she has seen several deepfake videos of herself, and called for strengthening defences to maintain people’s trust.

Speaking at the annual Global Fintech Fest here, Sitharaman said artificial intelligence is transforming finance, governance, and also everyday life, but underlined the need to ensure that



the technological advances serve humanity and also called for confronting the “darker side”. 

“The same tools that power innovation can be weaponised for deception and for fraud. I am not personalising it, but I can say that I have seen several deepfake videos of myself being circulated online, manipulated to mislead citizens, (and) distort facts,” she said.