Today, where Artificial Intelligence (AI) has gone ahead of selfie editing and reel, its misuse is becoming a serious threat to the society. The case of Instagram account ‘Babydoll Archi’ created by stealing the identity of a common woman from Assam is shocking about this threat.
Everyone’s senses flew away as soon as the truth behind this AI-built Instagram star came out. The woman who was considering a glamorous celebrity on social media was actually the victim. Whose pictures were morphed and pornographic content was made in his name and served in front of crores of people.
Everything started with a simple video- a female saree appeared to be lip-syncinging the Spanish song. The video went viral. Then started the journey of Instagram handle ‘Babydoll Archi’, which made 1.4 million followers in a few weeks and also achieved a blue tick. But in reality it was not a social media star, but an avatar prepared from an AI, which was prepared from the picture of a real woman.
The main accused in this whole case is Pritam Bopa, a mechanical engineer from Tinsukia district of Assam. A remote was working in a Delhi company and started this account in August 2020. According to DIG Sisal Aggarwal, Bora created thousands of AI-generated and moderated content from only one picture of a woman.
Police investigation has revealed that Bora earned around ₹ 3 lakh in just five days and the total earnings so far were around ₹ 10 lakh. He was selling subscription based ‘adult’ content through LinkTree. His aim was not only changed, but also economic benefits.
The police have taken Bora on 5 days remand. Along with this, many mobile numbers, SIM cards, laptops, debit and credit cards have been confiscated. Police is investigating whether other people were involved in this. Police say that we traced the number to Instagram account and found that he is in the name of Pritam Bora. His family told that he was an old knowledge of the victim. Initially, he started an account with only mental torture intention, but when the money started coming, he made it a source of profit.
The case has also highlighted the complex problems of misuse of AI technology and internet pornography. DIG Aggarwal clearly said that this case taught us that everything can not be blindly trusted on the Internet.
