How AI Was Misused To Create Communal Clashes

In the era of growing social media influence and AI, a small fake video can create a lot of public disturbance. That’s how clashes erupted in the holy city of Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh.

Going into the details, it is a known fact that tensions broke out in Ujjain on Monday after a religious group confronted police personnel over alleged demotion of Shahi Masjid. The incident unfolded when civic authorities were actually just removing a small portion of the outside wall of the mosque as part of road widening works.

The reason behind the entire clash turned out to be a fake AI generated video purportedly made to incite mob violence. Investigation revealed that viral social media videos created fake images showing the entire mosque structure being demolished completely, leading to crowd gathering and protesting at the mosque.

Angry crowds immediately started pelting stones at police forces and injured many. Security personnel had to use mild lathicharge and fire tear gas shells to clear the aggressive crowd from the area.

Police officers arrested 15 individuals including local political leader Mohsin Ali Khan for provoking crowds and disturbing peace. Officials also identified and reported over 100 Instagram accounts and social media influencers who posted fake content.

They also clarified that the mosque committee had already given full mutual consent for removing a small three-meter section. They are tracking original source accounts that created and circulated the fake AI videos to provoke communal hatred.

It is quite unfortunate that innocent public are paying the price of misuse of AI by some miscreants who are doing this intentionally to create law and order issues and to create religious unrest.