Real grief, fake images: How AI hijacked Air India crash coverage

AI photos, videos spread in India after tragedies as regulation fails to keep up

20250627 faked image of air india

Within hours of the crash of Air India Flight 171, there was a flood of fake, AI-generated content playing on the grief of families of those who died. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Ken Kobayashi)

VIREN NAIDU

MUMBAI -- Rajasthan-based teacher Kuldeep Bhatt's grief over the loss of his cousin, Komi Vyas, in the Air India 171 crash in mid-June was interrupted in a uniquely modern way -- by an artificial intelligence-generated video depicting her cremation, overlaid with a sophisticated montage and grim music.

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