#FactCheck: IAF Shivangi Singh was captured by Pakistan army after her Rafale fighter jet was shot down

Introduction

In the dynamic intersection of pop culture and technology, an unexpected drama unfolded in the virtual world, where the iconic Taylor Swift account has been temporarily blocked on X . The incident sent a shockwave through the online community, sparking debates and speculation about the misuse of deepfake technology.

Taylor Swift's searches on social media platform X have been restored after a temporary blockage was lifted following outrage over her explicit AI images. The social media site, formerly known as Twitter, temporarily restricted searches for Taylor Swift as a temporary measure to address a flood of AI-generated deepfake images that went viral across X and other platforms. 

X has mentioned it is actively removing the images and taking appropriate actions against the accounts responsible for spreading them. While Swift has not spoken publicly about the fake images, a report stated that her team is "considering legal action" against the site which published the AI-generated images.

The Social Media Frenzy

As news of temporary blockages spread like wildfire across social media platforms, users engaged in a frenzy of reactions. The fake picture was re-shared 24,000 times, with tens of thousands of users liking the post. This engagement supercharged the deepfake image of Taylor Swift, and by the time the moderators woke up, it was too late. Hundreds of accounts began reposting it, which started an online trend. Taylor Swift's AI video reached an even larger audience. The source of the photograph wasn't even known to begin with. The revelations are causing outrage. American lawmakers from across party lines have spoken. One of them said they were astounded, while another said they were shocked. 

AI Deepfake Controversy

The deepfake controversy is not new. There are lot of cases such as Rashmika Mandana, Sachin Tendulkar, and now Taylor Swift have been the victims of such misuse of Deepfake technology. The world is facing a concern about the misuse of AI or deepfake technology. With no proactive measures in place, this threat will only worsen affecting privacy concerns for individuals. This incident has opened a debate among users and industry experts on the ethical use of AI in the digital age and its privacy concerns.

Why has the Incident raised privacy concerns?

The emergence of Taylor Swift's deepfake has raised privacy concerns for several reasons.

1. Misuse of Personal Imagery:  Deepfake uses AI and its algorithms to superimpose one person’s face onto another person’s body, the algorithms are processed again and again till the desired results are obtained. In the case of celebrities or higher-position people, it's very easy for crooks to get images and generate a deepfake.  In the case of Taylor Swift, her images are misused. The misuse of Images can have serious consequences for an individual's reputation and privacy.

2. False narrative and Manipulation:  Deepfake opens the door for public reaction and spreads false narratives, causing harm to reputation, and affecting personal and professional life. Such false narratives through deepfakes may influence public opinion and damage reputation making it challenging for the person to control it. 

3. Invasion of Privacy: Creating a deepfake involves gathering a significant amount of information about their targets without their consent. The use of such personal information for the creation of AI-generated content without permission raises serious privacy concerns. 

4. Difficulty in differentiation: Advanced Deepfake technology makes it difficult for people to differentiate between genuine and manipulated content. 

5. Potential for Exploitation: Deepfake could be exploited for financial gain or malicious motives of the cyber crooks. These videos do harm the reputation, damage the brand name, and partnerships, and even hamper the integrity of the digital platform upon which the content is posted, they also raise questions about the platform’s policy or should we say against the zero-tolerance policy on posting the non-consensual nude images.

Is there any law that could safeguard Internet users?

Legislation concerning deepfakes differs by nation and often spans from demanding disclosure of deepfakes to forbidding harmful or destructive material. Speaking about various countries, the USA including its 10 states like California, Texas, and Illinois have passed criminal legislation prohibiting deepfake. Lawmakers are advocating for comparable federal statutes. A Democrat from New York has presented legislation requiring producers to digitally watermark deepfake content. The United States does not criminalise such deepfakes but does have state and federal laws addressing privacy, fraud, and harassment.

In 2019, China enacted legislation requiring the disclosure of deepfake usage in films and media. Sharing deepfake pornography became outlawed in the United Kingdom in 2023 as part of the Online Safety Act.

To avoid abuse, South Korea implemented legislation in 2020 criminalising the dissemination of deepfakes that endanger the public interest, carrying penalties of up to five years in jail or fines of up to 50 million won ($43,000).

In 2023, the Indian government issued an advisory to social media & internet companies to protect against deepfakes that violate India'sinformation technology laws. India is on its way to coming up with dedicated legislation to deal with this subject.

Looking at the present situation and considering the bigger picture, the world urgently needs strong legislation to combat the misuse of deepfake technology.

Lesson learned

The recent blockage of Taylor Swift's searches on Elon Musk's X has sparked debates on responsible technology use, privacy protection, and the symbiotic relationship between celebrities and the digital era. The incident highlights the importance of constant attention, ethical concerns, and the potential dangers of AI in the digital landscape. Despite challenges, the digital world offers opportunities for growth and learning.

Conclusion

Such deepfake incidents highlight privacy concerns and necessitate a combination of technological solutions, legal frameworks, and public awareness to safeguard privacy and dignity in the digital world as technology becomes more complex.

References:

• https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/taylor-swift-searches-restored-on-elon-musks-x-after-brief-blockage-over-ai-deepfakes-101706630104607.html
• https://readwrite.com/x-blocks-taylor-swift-searches-as-explicit-deepfakes-of-singer-go-viral/

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Introduction 

As the world is being "Digitally Interlaced", cyber security has become a continuous wrangle. The “Gambling industry” is considered an incredibly lucrative mark for cybercriminals, principally due to the enormous quantities of cash on hand and the sensitive details it processes day to day. Cybercriminals may use susceptibilities in gambling scaffolds to achieve financial scams or launder unlawful funds. An analysis by Security Scorecard discovered that the online gambling industry was ranked third in the possibility of encountering a cyber attack, following the energy and financial services sectors. Similarly, Online gambling is a bending matter that demands meticulous contemplation by policymakers and nationals. The incredible rise of online gambling has led to a terse acclivity in unlawful activities such as online scams, fraud, etc. Also, online sports gambling has become a thriving endeavour in contemporary years as millions of people are putting stakes and gambles on their electronic devices.

The Challenges

Online gambling has thus become a widespread frolicking for numerous youngsters, with the industry tossed to be worth billions of dollars in the forthcoming decades. The prominent cyber security challenges in the gambling industry are money laundering, financial laundering, ransomware, personal information theft, data breaches, distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), system disruptions and Insider perils and employee malfeasance. Challenges of online gambling also include being properly not regulated and a lack of social interaction with near and dear ones. The spread of Internet gambling has presented many problems affecting consumer behaviour online, motivations to gamble, problem gambling, security of websites, and the righteousness and virtue of the games. The rise of online gambling among young people due to the lack of clear regulations has likewise produced an abundant backdrop for financial ruination.

Web games and betting are among the fastest-evolving areas of the Internet. Over the past several years, there has been an international flare-up in online gambling, permitting customers to play from the convenience of home, work, and public locations. Numerous offshore betting websites and apps usually permit parties to win in the start with sound returns, whereas after the user gets addicted and invests considerable sums, they either keep failing or have the website refuse to cash out the winnings. Also, the information demonstrates that online games have been employed to commit wrongdoings (Child sexual exploitive material, religious conversion, cyberbullying, fraud, betting in virtual online casinos, etc.)

India's laws and regulations surrounding online gambling are complex and constantly evolving. While the legal framework is not entirely clear, a few state in India have their own set of rules.

Recently In April 2023, the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (“MeitY”), by virtue of the rule-making powers available to the central government under the Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act 2000”), implemented a new central legal framework for online gaming through amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (“IT Rules 2021”).  These amendments (“Online Gaming Rules”) propose a light-touch, co-regulatory regime whereby MeitY-recognised, independent self-regulatory bodies (“SRB”) will verify whether an “online real-money game” is to be made available to the general public or not – in accordance with the baseline criteria prescribed by the Online Gaming Rules.

The Online Gaming Rules attempt to regulate online gaming platforms by treating them as an “online gaming intermediary” (“OGI”) and prescribing intermediary due diligence obligations for them under the IT Rules 2021.  An OGI has been defined in the Online Gaming Rules as “any intermediary that enables the users of its computer resource to access one or more online games”.  Under the Online Gaming Rules, an online game can be a “permissible online game” if (i) it is not an online real-money game, or (ii) it is an online real-money game but is “verified” by an SRB in accordance with the baseline criteria prescribed by the Online Gaming Rules and any additional criteria prescribed by the SRB itself.

Global Perspective

The global gaming industry worth over US$227 billion in 2022 is further projected to grow to US$312 billion by 2027. Several countries have set regulatory frameworks about online gaming, though these are skewed, concentrating mainly on gambling and circumventing numerous of the more typical cyber threats. The US spends about $60 billion annually on online gambling and sports betting. In Europe, gambling is an even larger moneymaker. Also, numerous countries in Europe, like the UK, have legalised gambling. Nevertheless, it is prohibited for a US based company to operate an online gambling site. Yet, sports betting online is permitted in some states.

Today, though the gaming market has been overpowered by China and the US, future growth in the sector is anticipated to come from emerging economies like India with increasing populations. The permitted status of online gambling in India is nonetheless imprecise, vamoosing space for exploitation by cyber criminals and disarray for players involved. One of the climactic points that ought to be addressed is the sudden upsurge of online games, which increases gambling. Skill-based games such as poker, rummy etc., have additionally been developed to circumvent the legal definition of gambling in India. The recent instances of the online gaming industry not being properly regulated have also come to light in India. For instance, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is still investigating the vast Mahadev Online Betting scandal, exposing an unknown money laundering method using Unified Payment Interface (UPI) IDs. Also, the Cyber Cell in Agra has taken proactive action against copyright violations, illegal online gambling and betting activities, shutting down 27 Illegal cricket betting sites in major operations, safeguarding several lakhs of Indians with thousands of crores from being transferred to overseas shores principally China. 

Consequently, though India has announced new regulations on online gaming, its contemporary policy framework cannot contend with the problems endangering this sector. The Public Gambling Act of 1867 makes it unlawful to use a public gambling house or to be seen in one. Nevertheless, the act does not explicitly cite online gambling, leading to further interpretation. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has released a further awareness campaign for offshore illegal gambling apps, notifying users to be mindful of foreign apps as they may be fraudulent and might induce monetary damage to the user. Also, state laws control gambling in India with each state having its own directive on the subject.  Yet, the Supreme Court of India has maintained that skilled games are not gambling and are thus legal. Furthermore, the Information Technology (IT) Act, of 2000 does not precisely handle online gambling or games that enable gambling.

Today, developers have strived for new ways to monetise the growing popularity of online gaming, which oversaw the creation of in-game currencies that can be bought using actual money, usually through credit cards.  Several nations have prohibited the usage of in-game currency and loot boxes, considering them a kind of online gambling. The in-game currency has thus caused much disagreement about becoming a state of hunting monetisation by developers, especially targeting minor or newbie players. The gambling industry, therefore, faces unique cybersecurity challenges that require a comprehensive and proactive approach to cybersecurity.

Conclusion

Presently, there are approximately 3.09 billion active video game players worldwide, and the number is expected to reach 3.32 billion by 2024 as of 2023. In the contemporary digital era, information is priceless, and encryption acts as a necessary means to safeguard it. Thus, Regulators are working to maintain the swiftness of shift in the industry, as the dearth of transparency in the law has made it challenging to implement regulations. There is also less awareness about cyber security in India due to the following grounds such as the lack of ethical hackers in the country, companies in India lacking focus on cyber security and hiring a team of ethical hackers and cyber security experts. Furthermore, there has been a lack of knowledge among the citizens as well. 

It is essential to realise the conceivable social and economic consequences and take measures to handle the online gambling industry. The industry has thus been undersized in the mode of research following online crime and Internet gambling, even though it is an acute emphasis.  There is also a pressing necessity to rebuild these regulations to tackle the more unbridled cyber security hazards swarming the gaming industry. Similarly, there is an urgent need for governments and policymakers around the world to start paying more attention to the gaming industry as cyber security threats continue to rise. There should be a further need to strengthen the regulatory framework, establish Self Regulatory Organizations (SROs), create ethical gaming designs and increase awareness among gamers. The Government of India should consider devising its own rating system to rate games so that players under 18 cannot access them.

Eventually, cyber security is a shared commitment, and everyone in the online gambling ecosystem must function jointly to provide a secure and safe setting for all.

References:

• https://truefort.com/gambling-industry-cybersecurity/
• https://www.orfonline.org/research/cybersecurity-threats-in-online-gaming-learnings-for-india
• https://www.hackread.com/chinese-scammers-cloned-websites-gambling-network/
• https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/cybersecurity-threats-from-online-gaming/
• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/legal-considerations-online-gambling-india-sudden-increase-mathur/
• https://www.jsheld.com/insights/articles/the-importance-of-cybersecurity-in-the-online-sports-betting-industry
• https://www.the420.in/agra-cyber-cell-takes-down-27-illegal-betting-sites/
• https://g2g.news/gaming/ministry-of-home-affairs-releases-new-awareness-campaign-for-online-gaming-in-india/
• https://smestreet.in/technology/kaspersky-warns-of-increased-phishing-scams-and-data-breaches-in-apac-for-2024-2381601
• https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/newsletters/morning-dispatch/govt-bans-mahadev-other-illegal-betting-apps-cyber-attacks-against-india-spike/articleshow/104996017.cms?from=mdr
• https://cipher.com/cybersecurity-for-gambling/
• https://www.mangalorean.com/tightening-the-reins-indian-government-blocks-over-550-illegal-betting-and-gambling-apps/
• https://cybersecurityasean.com/news-press-releases/kaspersky-predicts-rise-cyber-threats-across-apac-2024
• https://www.cnbctv18.com/technology/mahadev-betting-app-scam-ed-money-laundering-upi-celebrities-under-scanner-17815661.htm
• https://iclg.com/practice-areas/gambling-laws-and-regulations/india

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Introduction

AI has penetrated most industries and telecom is no exception. According to a survey by Nvidia, enhancing customer experiences is the biggest AI opportunity for the telecom industry, with 35% of respondents identifying customer experiences as their key AI success story. Further, the study found nearly 90% of telecom companies use AI, with 48% in the piloting phase and 41% actively deploying AI. Most telecom service providers (53%) agree or strongly agree that adopting AI would provide a competitive advantage. AI in telecom is primed to be the next big thing and Google has not ignored this opportunity. It is reported that Google will soon add “AI Replies” to the phone app’s call screening feature. 

How Does The ‘AI Call Screener’ Work?

With the busy lives people lead nowadays, Google has created a helpful tool to answer the challenge of responding to calls amidst busy schedules. Google Pixel smartphones are now fitted with a new feature that deploys AI-powered calling tools that can help with call screening, note-making during an important call, filtering and declining spam, and most importantly ending the frustration of being on hold.  

In the official Google Phone app, users can respond to a caller through “new AI-powered smart replies”. While “contextual call screen replies” are already part of the app,  this new feature allows users to not have to pick up the call themselves. 

• With this new feature,  Google Assistant will be able to respond to the call with a customised audio response.
• The Google Assistant, responding to the call, will ask the caller’s name and the purpose of the call. If they are calling about an appointment, for instance, Google will show the user suggested responses specific to that call, such as ‘Confirm’ or ‘Cancel appointment’.

Google will build on the call-screening feature by using a “multi-step, multi-turn conversational AI” to suggest replies more appropriate to the nature of the call. Google’s Gemini Nano AI model is set to power this new feature and enable it to handle phone calls and messages even if the phone is locked and respond even when the caller is silent.

Benefits of AI-Powered Call Screening

This AI-powered call screening feature offers multiple benefits:

1. The AI feature will enhance user convenience by reducing the disruptions caused by spam calls. This will, in turn, increase productivity.
2. It will increase call privacy and security by filtering high-risk calls, thereby protecting users from attempts of fraud and cyber crimes such as phishing.  
3. The new feature can potentially increase efficiency in business communications by screening for important calls, delegating routine inquiries and optimising customer service. 

Key Policy Considerations

Adhering to transparent, ethical, and inclusive policies while anticipating regulatory changes can establish Google as a responsible innovator in AI call management. Some key considerations for AI Call Screener from a policy perspective are:

1. The AI screen caller will process and transcribe sensitive voice data, therefore, the data handling policies for such need to be transparent to reassure users of regulatory compliance with various laws. 
2. AI has been at a crossroads in its ethical use and mitigation of bias. It will require the algorithms to be designed to avoid bias and reflect inclusivity in its understanding of language. 
3. The data that the screener will be using is further complicated by global and regional regulations such as data privacy regulations like the GDPR, DPDP Act, CCPA etc., for consent to record or transcribe calls while focussing on user rights and regulations. 

Conclusion: A Balanced Approach to AI in Telecommunications

Google’s AI Call Screener offers a glimpse into the future of automated call management, reshaping customer service and telemarketing by streamlining interactions and reducing spam. As this technology evolves, businesses may adopt similar tools, balancing customer engagement with fewer unwanted calls. The AI-driven screening will also impact call centres, shifting roles toward complex, human-centred interactions while automation handles routine calls. They could have a potential effect on support and managerial roles. Ultimately, as AI call management grows, responsible design and transparency will be in demand to ensure a seamless, beneficial experience for all users.

References

• https://resources.nvidia.com/en-us-ai-in-telco/state-of-ai-in-telco-2024-report
• https://store.google.com/intl/en/ideas/articles/pixel-call-assist-phone-screen/ 
• https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/google-working-on-ai-replies-for-call-screening-feature/article68844973.ece
• https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/artificial-intelligence/google-ai-replies-call-screening-9659612/ 

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