AI Modi singing is taking over India's internet

Over the last few weeks, Modi's digitally rendered voice has been used for videos not just in Hindi, but also in south Indian languages like Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada, captivating audiences in regions where Hindi is not commonly spoken.

But the videos, though lighthearted, serve a larger political purpose in India, a country with 22 official languages. Modi's Hindi speeches can often be inaccessible to large swathes of the population that does not understand the language, but voice cloning could help make campaigns accessible, political strategist Sagar Vishnoi told Rest of World. AI voice cloning could break down this language barrier in India, especially the north-south linguistic divide, he said. “AI can be game-changing for [the] 2024 elections.”

Dravidabros...Is this Hinthi imposition?

Covers AI offers access to voice models of 15 global politicians including Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Narendra Modi, and Jair Bolsonaro. Users can only create one free song per week — as a workaround, @ai_whizwires uses 15 Gmail addresses. “People in the comments have started requesting more,” he said.

Though Covers AI has recorded millions of website visits from India, with Modi AI being the most popular voice model, Heinrich was unaware of the reason for the spike in the use of the tool before Rest of World contacted him.

Amidst the laughter and viral content, the future of political communication is taking shape. Divyendra Singh Jadoun, popularly known as The Indian Deepfaker, is using voice cloning to deliver “personalized messages” to on-the-ground party workers for the upcoming assembly elections in Rajasthan. “If you think of politics as a company, each and every employee is working for free,” Jadoun said. “The only thing that [party workers] need is recognition from their [politician].”

He said the words

Jadoun is working on an AI voice model that sends personalized voice notes on WhatsApp in the voices of politicians. “Once you call a karyakarta [or on-the-ground political worker] by his name, then he knows that ‘[the politician] knows me' — he will be like a devotee forever, doesn't need anything else,” he said.

I'm glad I didn't join as a volunteer in even my turbo wingcucked phase. Imagine being a beta orbiter for a fricking politician.

Earlier this month, citing multiple deepfake videos of politicians circulating on WhatsApp, the Indian government said it wanted to amend the law to force WhatsApp to identify those who had first shared the clips, effectively calling for breaking encryption. “[AI-led manipulated content] is likely to be used [as an excuse] to continue the existing trend of passing regulation that gives greater control and discretion for union executives,” Waghre said.