New Delhi, Sep 25 (IANS) PIB Fact Check, the government handle for busting fake news, on Thursday unmasked a sinister Pakistani plot to spread misinformation ahead of the Indian Armed Forces’ massive drone exercise titled ‘Cold Start’, by bringing to light an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated video of Air Marshal Rakesh Sinha.

The AI-generated video of Air Marshal Sinha, Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Operations), shows him “admitting” on camera that Pakistani drones have entered India, inflicting damage on the S-400 defence systems.

The PIB in its fact-check has exposed the doctored, digitally morphed and fabricated video of the Air Marshal and also called out Pakistani propaganda machinery for fanning utter falsehood.

It shared two videos of Air Marshal – digitally altered and Original – to show how his remarks to the press were edited and morphed, leaving many netizens baffled over the alarming alteration.

The PIB picked one such Pakistani propaganda handle named ‘the Whistle Blower’, which quotes him, saying, “Indian Air Marshal Rakesh Sinha admitted that Pakistani drones reached Delhi and Gujarat, and that S-400 systems were destroyed because of their surveillance.”

Along with this, it also shared the original video of Air Marshal speaking to a news agency where he says, “The armed forces will organise ‘Cold Start’ in the first week of October, where the capabilities of drones and counter-drone systems will be tested.”

The PIB, while exposing Pakistani propaganda, also appealed to the public to stay wary of such AI-enabled misleading videos.

“Such videos are shared with the intent to mislead the public and create confusion and panic. Always verify content before sharing and help curb the spread of misinformation,” it said.

Notably, the Indian armed forces are set to hold the first-ever drone and counter-drone war exercise to test the capabilities of its latest systems. It will be held in the first week of October and will see participation of all three services.

–IANS

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