AI Will Replace Scriptwriters While Deepfakes Can Sway Elections, Warns Odisha based AI scientist

Bhubaneswar: As artificial intelligence continues its rapid advancement across industries, top Indian officials are beginning to recognize both its transformative potential and serious risks, according to a leading AI executive.

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Nishant Nihar, Chief AI Officer at Sunroof Technologies, has raised alarm about AI's dual impact on society - creating unprecedented efficiency while simultaneously introducing new threats to information integrity and employment.

"AI can now replace the jobs of five scriptwriters with a single prompt," Nihar explained in a recent industry forum. "This efficiency is remarkable from a business perspective but devastating for creative professionals who suddenly find their skills automated."

While government ministers are increasingly engaging with AI's transformative potential, Nihar believes many underestimate the technology's more sinister applications. "AI is scary when you understand its full capabilities," he warned. "The technology that helps businesses can also create convincing deepfakes that become nearly impossible to distinguish from reality."

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Deepfakes—synthetic media where a person's likeness is replaced with someone else's—represent a particularly concerning threat to electoral integrity. With India's extensive social media penetration reaching even remote areas, manipulated videos could significantly impact public opinion.

"Social media penetration is incredibly deep in India's hinterland, where many users lack the digital literacy to identify sophisticated fakes," Nihar noted. "A convincing deepfake video of a political candidate making inflammatory statements could spread like wildfire before any fact-checking occurs."

Voice cloning technology presents an equally troubling scenario. AI systems can now recreate anyone's voice with just a few minutes of sample audio, enabling fabricated phone calls or audio messages that appear legitimate.

"Imagine receiving what sounds exactly like a voice message from a trusted community leader spreading misinformation right before voting day," said Nihar. "Voice cloning is a huge threat because audio authenticity has traditionally been considered reliable evidence."

The concerns come as Indian government officials have begun developing frameworks to regulate AI technologies. Several ministers have participated in technology summits exploring AI's implications, though comprehensive regulation remains in early stages.

Cybersecurity experts echo Nihar's warnings, noting that detection technologies struggle to keep pace with increasingly sophisticated AI-generated content. While some platforms have implemented deepfake detection systems, these measures often lag behind creation capabilities.

"We're entering an era where seeing and hearing can no longer be believed without verification," Nihar cautioned. "This fundamentally changes how information spreads in a democracy."

Sunroof Technologies is among several firms developing authentication protocols to verify digital content origins, though widespread adoption remains challenging.

For now, Nihar advocates increased public awareness and digital literacy campaigns, particularly targeting vulnerable populations most susceptible to manipulated media.

"The technology itself isn't inherently good or bad—it's how humans deploy it," he concluded. "We need both technical safeguards and educated users to ensure AI enhances rather than undermines our society."

As election seasons approach in various states, the race between deepfake creators and detection systems intensifies, with democracy's information ecosystem hanging in the balance.