Deep Fake- A Bhagavad gita perspective

Hare Krishna A Bhagavata perspective on deep fakes deep fakes are imitations primarily in the form of videos but possibly also in the form of audios or images of celebrities doing things which they haven't done so these are videos which are doctored maybe the head of celebrity is put on the body of somebody else and in this way those celebrities can be maligned and misrepresented and people can be misled why deep fakes started especially in the west and concerns about them started almost 4-5 years ago but recently this has come in the Indian mind much more prominently because South Indian actress was subjected to such a deep fake of course it was done to illustrate how dangerous it is and then the Indian Prime Minister Modi also talked about it in a speech and mentioned how he was also targeted by some attempts at fake misrepresentation of his actions now as technology is advancing especially with AI taking leaps and strides which can be astonishing and alarming both deep fakes are only going to become much more common and much more convincing and while they require some level of technological expertise and technological sophistication the expertise of the person doing the fake and the sophistication of the technology itself but this is a problem that is going to escalate so what would be the Bhagavad Gita perspective on this phenomena I'll talk about it from three terms vigilance intelligence and transcendence vigilance as such technology starts becoming more and more widespread it is important for the state and the authorities in general to be more vigilant to detect and refute and reject such attempts at faking the Bhagavad Gita and describing the qualities of the rulers mentions daksham or resourcefulness as one of their characteristics so kshatriyas are meant to be resourceful that means that in the world problems can come in many unexpected and even sometimes unimaginable ways but as those problems come one needs to be resourceful that is creative, imaginative in combating those problems so in the Bhagavatam the example is given drawn from the broad Vedic tradition that if somebody is pierced by a thorn then often another thorn is used to remove that thorn so in this case it is the technology is creating fakes and technology needs to be developed and enforced so that such fakes can be weeded out before they mislead the masses so the government has to be proactive in becoming more and more vigilant in this regard however the responsibility cannot be outsourced to the government alone that brings us to the second I that is intelligence we individuals have to become more and more intelligent to spot such things and at least to develop more of a critical eye that we don't think we don't take things at face value the Bhagavad Gita explains that intelligence is the capacity to see beyond appearance to substance by talking about perception that is wise Jnana that is in Satvaguna, the Bhagavad Gita states that such a person is able to see beyond the appearance of things so for example beyond the bodily differences among various people to the essential substance that is similar that is the soul so the principle here is intelligence is the capacity to see beyond appearance to substance and every individual needs to develop more and more of this intelligence that things are not as they seem to be and children for example get carried away by appearances but a sign of adulthood and maturity is that we pause and reflect the Bhagavad Gita itself by its philosophical analysis and reflection strengthens our intelligence and thereby enables us to become more astute to spot fakes whether they be created through technology as in deep fakes or fakes as in real life where somebody is taking something and trying to mislead others so each one the responsibility to develop intelligence is for each one of us we cannot outsource the development of intelligence to others especially when mass media can be used to mislead people in masses it's vital for us individual to take the responsibility to develop our intelligence and that brings us to the third point P transcendence the Gita explains that we are at our core spiritual beings transcendental to the world and its illusions and deceptions while we ourselves may or may not be targeted by deep fakes but such deep fakes can create a lot of insecurity whether a person may be asked to transfer money from their bank account by somebody using AI to fake the voice of their relative or somebody even faking biometric measures or even what is called as identity theft where somebody's identity is taken away from them because somebody else is impersonating as them we may or may not be subjected to such identity theft but the Bhagavad Gita assures us that at our core our identity can never be stolen from us we are spiritual beings, we are parts of God and no illusion can change that fundamental reality we may be a millionaire or a billionaire and somebody fakes our signature or our biometrics they may steal away our money and we may no longer be a super wealthy person but still we are soul, spiritual beings parts of God and that transcendental core to us is what should be the basis of our security and the Bhagavad Gita says that this kind of deep fakes are not a new thing in fact the whole world is considered to be the domain of Maya the word in Sanskrit Maya means Maya, that which is not things are not as they appear to be the deepest fake is where we end up believing a fake origin of our identity while we are spiritual beings we misidentify ourselves as our fragile bodies and try to build our whole sense of identity and self worth based on fallible achievements such as our education, our wealth our prestige our particular extraordinary skill set, all these may come and go but the Bhagavad Gita's wisdom which reminds us of our core spirituality can protect us not just from the deep fakes of the world but the deepest of all fakes the fake of the forces of Maya if we stay grounded in the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita then each one of us can avoid being deluded whether it be by fakes created through technology or fakes created by any other means the more we regularly read the Bhagavad Gita and remind ourselves of transcendence that is at our core the less we will be vulnerable to being tempted and deluded by external illusions.

In this way by having greater vigilance at the level of the government, by cultivating greater intelligence at the level of the individual and situating us all in transcendence as core spiritual beings in inalienable parts of God each one of us can face life with its various challenges and fakes no matter in what form they come Thank you. Hare Krishna.