This article was originally published in Rest of World, which covers technology’s impact outside the West.
When the lights dimmed at Jaideep Sharma’s wedding reception in the north Indian city of Ajmer, guests expected to see a cheesy montage of the young couple in various attractive locations. Instead, they saw Sharma’s father – dead for more than a year – on the screen, smiling and blessing the newlyweds.
The video was created using artificial intelligence by a local creator Sharma found on Instagram. Using pictures of Sharma’s father, the creator produced a minute-long video in about a week, and charged about Rs 50,000, Sharma told Rest of World. It was worth it, he said.
“It was like a bombardment of emotions for everyone,” said the 33-year-old garment trader, who felt his father’s absence keenly at his wedding. “He was like a central force in the entire family. So when the video played, everyone was very happy and emotional at the same time.”
Sharma is among a growing number of Indians discovering the power of AI deepfakes to resurrect dead family members, create voice clones of the departed, and add absent guests to family celebrations.
AI tools such as OpenAI’s Sora, Google’s Nano Banana, and Midjourney have made it easier to create images and...
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