Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy wants probe into AI-generated content in Kancha Gachibowli land controversy

Hyderabad: Chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Saturday directed officials to appeal to court, on behalf of the state govt, seeking an order to investigate artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content showing peacocks and deer, which misled society on the Kancha Gachibowli land issue.

The CM held a review on the contentious issue and court cases related to it, with deputy chief minister Bhatti Vikramarka, ministers Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, D Anasuya (Seethakka), chief secretary A Santhi Kumari, DGP Jitender among others, and enquired about the reasons for the land issue turning into a controversy.

The officials explained to the CM that even celebrities fell victim to AI-generated videos and reacted on social media, resulting in the matter almost becoming a national issue. Revanth instructed them to strengthen the cyber crime department in the state so that such incidents were not repeated and suggested that necessary advanced forensic hardware and software tools be provided to detect AI content.

Sources said the CM expressed serious concern over the controversy on social media as if University of Hyderabad (UoH) land parcels were snatched. Many projects were constructed on the land in Survey No. 25 in Kancha Gachibowli in the last 25 years.

Along with ISB, Gachibowli stadium, IIIT, private buildings, residential apartments, and UoH buildings were also constructed.The officials brought to the notice of the CM that there were no disputes or concerns while constructing them. There were no controversies like wildlife conservation and environmental destruction at that time. The meeting discussed why the proposed development of 400 acres of govt land under the same survey number has become controversial. Officials explained to the CM that the controversy led to a national debate as some people created videos and photos using AI to make things appear real and widely circulated them on social media. Officials explained to Revanth Reddy that AI-generated videos went viral on social media, and that revealing the facts became a challenge for the govt.

Police officials explained to the CM that audios were made of peacocks crying and photos and videos were made of deer injured by bulldozers and running away. They said that even famous personalities from various fields added fuel to the lies by believing them to be true and posting posts and videos on social media.

The meeting discussed that Union minister G Kishan Reddy, former minister G Jagadish Reddy, social media influencer Dhruv Rathi, film celebrities John Abraham, Dia Mirza, Raveena Tandon, and others posted photos and videos created by AI and sent a wrong message to society.

Officials said journalist Sumit Jha, who first posted the video on the issue, deleted his post and apologised within a short time, but none of the other celebrities, who spread the same video without realising this fact, withdrew it. The meeting discussed that the controversy created by AI in Kancha Gachibowli posed a big challenge to democratic systems. It was also discussed that if fake content was created with AI on sensitive issues that lead to disputes and conflicts like the Indo-Pak and Indo-China borders, there was a risk of wars in the future. Concerns were raised that fake videos and photos created by AI were a pandemic greater than the coronavirus.