In a video uploaded on Wednesday, co-founder and CEO of Zerodha Nithin Kamath deceived viewers into thinking it was Kamath himself, thanks to his convincing deepfake. The intention, according to him, was to draw attention to the growing threat that artificial intelligence (AI) presents.
Deepfake and the emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology have alarmed Nithin Kamath, co-founder and CEO of Zerodha, who claims that these developments represent a serious threat to the financial services sector. Paperless online onboarding, including KYC, has been a major factor in the growth of brokerages like Zerodha. But as AI and deepfakes become more prevalent, the entire online onboarding process might start to break.
With the advent of Aadhar and other digital onboarding tools, the tipping point for the Indian financial services business was reached. According to Kamath, verifying the authenticity of the paperwork and the individual opening the account is crucial for the companies onboarding new clients.
He emphasized that the procedure as it stands now entails obtaining the ID or address proof data from the source using Digilocker or Aadhar, then using a webcam to compare the face of this ID proof with the person who opened the account. Several measures are taken to ensure authenticity and liveliness.
Still, Kamath issues a warning: “I believe that as deepfake gets better, it will only get harder to verify whether the person on the other side is real or artificial intelligence-generated.”
It will be interesting to see how the laws surrounding this change. He also discussed the possible effects on regulations and the expansion of the industry. Reverting to the old method of opening accounts through physical means will halt the sector’s overall growth.
Deep fakes are a problem that the Indian government acknowledges, but it may take some time and several tries before the new laws and policies to address these issues are implemented.
The following advice can help you spot deep-fake videos:
- Look for irregularities. Deepfake may have uneven shadows or lighting.
- Keep an eye out for distortions; the background might contain odd movements or distortions.
- Pay attention to how your face moves. Deepfakes frequently have trouble recreating the ways in which the mouth and eyes move.
- Play the audio: Deepfake voices sometimes sound artificial or do not match the actor’s lip movements.
- Make use of technology. Deepfake can be found using a number of AI-based tools.
- Confirm the sources: Before accepting any information from a video, always ascertain the reliability of the source.
