Fact Check: BJP's Fake Audio Clips of Supriya Sule and others exposed using AI detection tools
On November 19, 2023, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) posted four audio recordings on its official X account. It claimed that these were conversations of some important leaders from the state of Maharashtra- Supriya Sule of the NCP, Nana Patole of the Congress, and an IPS Amitabh Gupt.
Advanced AI detection tools have recently revealed these audio clips are fake and manipulated. AI experts from TrueMedia and ConTrails AI, a Bengaluru-based startup specializing in detecting deepfakes, confirmed that these clips were indeed manufactured.
Familiar tactics of spreading false information to manipulate the righteous voters are being resorted to, a night before the polling day. We have filed a criminal complaint to the Hon’ble ECI & the Cyber crime department against the fake allegations made of bitcoin… pic.twitter.com/g8Selv1DFk
— Supriya Sule (@supriya_sule) November 19, 2024
The first clip, allegedly with IPS officer Amitabh Gupta and Gaurav Mehta, an employee of an audit firm, was flagged for manipulation. The AI detected significant discrepancies, such as mispronunciation of names, indicating the clip was AI-generated. Detection tools like TrueMedia and Hive Moderation detected the audio to be AI-generated with 100% confidence as fake.
In the second audio, Congress leader Nana Patole was allegedly being discussed with Gupta about bitcoin transactions. Further analysis, however, indicated Patole's voice was not his real voice as per known earlier interviews. AI-detection tools detected this, too, as a case of cloned audio.
The third and fourth audio clips, allegedly involving Supriya Sule discussing bitcoin transactions, were also exposed as manipulated. When compared to Sule’s actual voice in past interviews, the discrepancies were glaring. The ConTrails report confirmed that these clips were tampered with, reinforcing the conclusion that BJP's claims were based on fake recordings.
Supriya Sule on X stated that the audio clips are "fake" and has filed a complaint under cybercrime for leaking this kind of false news. It throws light on the aspect of fact-checking and AI detection during this age of manipulated media.
As the controversy unfolded, it became evident that this AI generated audio clip was a deliberate attempt to mislead the public and bring confusion at such critical elections.
