Trust Erosion in the Digital Age

The rise of deep fake technology has created a significant challenge for fact-checkers in India, leading to a lack of access to forensic testing AI capabilities. This has resulted in a 'detection equity gap' where even real content is questioned for authenticity. The emergence of local startups providing solutions for testing AI generators has alleviated this gap slightly, but the threat of audio and video deep fakes impacting elections remains. The concept of the 'Liars dividend' highlights how the erosion of trust in online content enables individuals, including politicians, to make outrageous claims and then backtrack by labeling authentic content as deep fakes. This trend underscores the critical need to scrutinize all online content for authenticity in an era where trust is rapidly eroding.