'It isn't me.' Nithin Kamath shares his own deepfake video; says sophisticated AI tech in future will pose onboarding woes for banks
By ET Online | Updated:
Agencies
Highlights
- Nithin Kamath warned about AI and deepfake risks to the financial sector
- He noted challenges in verifying identities with the shift to digital onboarding
- Kamath worries about distinguishing real individuals from advanced deepfakes
- He also discussed the evolving regulations around deepfakes in finance
In the last two months, Indian social media has been bombarded by deepfake videos of celebrities. From Ratan Tata to Rashmika Mandana, timelines have been flooded with content created using artificial intelligence. Images, audio and video - there has been a proliferation in such fake videos that have transformed already existing content.
On Wednesday, Nithin Kamath sounded the alarm bells and said that the rise of AI technology and deepfakes pose a large risk to the financial services industry that, he said, has been able to make the switch to a completely digital onboarding process, buoyed by Aadhaar etc.
"The tipping point for Indian financial services businesses was when onboarding became completely digital, thanks to Aadhaar, etc. For businesses onboarding a new customer, an important aspect is ensuring that the documents and the person opening the account are real," he says.
In the 58-second clip, Kamath speaks of the difficulty in being able to verify customer identities as digitisation becomes common.
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overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0ydYkbtILn/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Nithin Kamath (@nithinkamath)</a></p></div></blockquote> <script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>
"The normal process that's followed today is to fetch the ID or address proof data from the source using Digilocker and or Aadhaar. Also, match the face from this ID proof with the person opening the account through a webcam. Today, we have a bunch of checks in place to check for liveliness and if the other person is real or not," he says.
He also wonders what kind of measures banks will engage to adjust to this trend.
"It will be interesting to see how the regulations around this evolve. Going back to the physical way of opening accounts will bring the growth of the entire sector to an abrupt stop," he poses.
As the clip nears its end, Kamath goes on to disclose that the person in the video was not him but a remarkably convincing deepfake.
On Wednesday, Nithin Kamath sounded the alarm bells and said that the rise of AI technology and deepfakes pose a large risk to the financial services industry that, he said, has been able to make the switch to a completely digital onboarding process, buoyed by Aadhaar etc.
"The tipping point for Indian financial services businesses was when onboarding became completely digital, thanks to Aadhaar, etc. For businesses onboarding a new customer, an important aspect is ensuring that the documents and the person opening the account are real," he says.
In the 58-second clip, Kamath speaks of the difficulty in being able to verify customer identities as digitisation becomes common.
"The normal process that's followed today is to fetch the ID or address proof data from the source using Digilocker and or Aadhaar. Also, match the face from this ID proof with the person opening the account through a webcam. Today, we have a bunch of checks in place to check for liveliness and if the other person is real or not," he says.
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The Zerodha CEO also expressed concerns about the growing sophistication of deepfakes which, he feels, will pose serious challenges in the future in distinguishing between real individuals and AI-generated replicas during opening an account at a bank.He also wonders what kind of measures banks will engage to adjust to this trend.
"It will be interesting to see how the regulations around this evolve. Going back to the physical way of opening accounts will bring the growth of the entire sector to an abrupt stop," he poses.
As the clip nears its end, Kamath goes on to disclose that the person in the video was not him but a remarkably convincing deepfake.
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