Fake videos, photos triggered UoH controversy, claims Congress government

Controversy created by using AI on Kancha Gachibowli lands poses a big challenge to democratic system, say officials at a high-level meeting with Chief Minister

Hyderabad: Even as the Supreme Court raised concerns over the destruction of green cover and biodiversity in Kancha Gachibowli, the State government has said that the entire controversy was triggered by “fabricated videos and photos on social media networks” which it said, had spread “fake news” that the government seized the lands of the University of Hyderabad.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy held a review meeting at the Secretariat on the cases pending in the court regarding the Kancha Gachibowli lands. Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka, Ministers Seethakka, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Chief Secretary A Santhi Kumari, DGP Jitender, PCCF RM Dobriyal, TGIIC MD Vishnuvardhan Reddy and other officials were present.

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According to a statement from the CMO, the officials briefed the Chief Minister that though ISB, Gachibowli Stadium, IIIT, private buildings, residential apartments and University of Hyderabad buildings were constructed in survey number 25, no disputes or concerns came to light during the construction of these institutions. There were no such controversies on wildlife conservation and environmental issues at that time, they said, adding that the current controversy led to a national debate as some people “created fake videos and photos using artificial intelligence and circulated them widely on social media”.

The officials told the Chief Minister that the fabricated videos and photos went viral on social media even before the government disclosed the facts on the lands and that it had become a big challenge for them. Top police officials claimed that some vested interests made fake videos and AI photos of crying peacocks and injured deer running after they were hit by bulldozers.

“Even some famous persons in various fields presumed the fake videos and photos circulating on the social media to be true and this added fuel to the lies,” they claimed.

The meeting also discussed Union Minister G Kishan Reddy, former Minister G Jagadish Reddy, social media influencer Dhruv Rathee, film celebrities John Abraham, Dia Mirza and Raveena Tandon stating that they sent a wrong message to society after they uploaded fake posts on social media believing them to be true. Journalist Sumit Jha had posted the fake video and deleted it and apologised, they said, adding that some other prominent persons too shared the same fake video without realising “facts”.

“The high-level meeting felt that the controversy created by using AI on Kancha Gachibowli lands posed a big challenge to the democratic system. The CM and officials discussed the threat of a big risk in the future if the fake content is created with AI on sensitive issues, mainly the disputes on Indo-Pak and Indo-China borders,” the CMO statement said, adding that the fake videos and photos created by AI would be a greater risk than the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Chief Minister instructed officials to appeal to the court on behalf of the State government to order an inquiry into the creation of fake AI content and also asked police officials to strengthen the Cybercrime Department to prevent such incidents, it added.