Ninth International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

The construction of a public persona for world leaders and politicians has always been a carefully curated exercise. With careful placement and harnessing of various ideas, leaders have always leveraged their own stories to create larger-than-life images that resonate with the common people. Through multiple media outlets, this construction has grown such that associations have become layered and nuanced. With the advent of AI and the growth of deepfakes, the challenge for the content consumer today has become to recognise where the story is curated and where simply fabricated. Video evidence that was once incontrovertible has come under immense scrutiny today. When the reality of significant elections in more than 40 countries of the world, the implications are staggering and far-reaching. This paper analyses the manner in which deepfakes are being used increasingly to further political agendas and construct stories and identities that may not be real. At a time of rampant disinformation and low trust in the news, such videos make it even harder for audiences to determine whether what they are seeing and hearing is real. These technological weapons have the potential to completely sideline the democratic process by feeding distorted narratives to the masses. This paper, with the use of narrative and content analysis, studies the potential impact that AI can have on our everyday political landscape as well as the future of responsible mass communication in the context of the general elections in India.