Balen’s Father’s Grief Traded on Social Media for ‘Views’, Confusion Spread Through AI Photo-Video
मंसिर १९, २०८२ १२:३६
Kathmandu: Recently, pictures of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Mayor Balendra Shah (Balen) and his wife Sabina Kafle in emotional poses wearing white clothes have been going viral on social media. After Balen’s father Dr. Ram Narayan Shah passed away on Sunday, such content has been spread on platforms including Facebook and TikTok.
Some Facebook pages are continuously posting only pictures showing Balen in grief. One such page is ‘comrade jamu’. This page, which has 47,000 followers, has posted 10 posts of Balen since Monday till the time of writing this news. All of those pictures are of a kind that gathers human sympathy. But these contents are not real but are created by AI. An analysis conducted by TechPana has found that most of such content spread on social media has been prepared with the help of AI tools for views and engagement.
The ‘comrade jamu’ page uploaded a photo of Balen and Sabina sitting in front of a candlelit place with a garland on their photo at 10:51 am on Wednesday. The photo shows film director and actor Nischhal Basnet comforting them. But this photo is AI generated.
As of the time of writing, the post has received more than 68,000 reactions, more than 4,300 comments, and has been shared 436 times. The caption of the post reads, “Balen Shah’s tears have not stopped yet, this is love for his father, let’s all like and write Be Strong.” (Translated)
Most of the comments on the post have said “Be Strong.” Some have expressed sympathy for Balen’s family, saying that time will heal everything.
The same page also posted another AI-generated post at 3:53 pm on the same day. The post reads, “Balen Shah could not cope after his father’s death. Balen Shah says my father’s dream was to see his son become the Prime Minister.” (Translated)
The post has received over 3,400 reactions and 243 comments as of the time of writing. Most of the comments have expressed their condolences by writing ‘RIP’.
The Facebook page ‘Miss Pabi 41’ has also posted various AI-generated photos of Balen mourning. The post, which came at 8:19 pm on Wednesday, reads, “Balen Shah cries profusely every day, his love is immense, everyone likes it and says don’t be sad.” The post has received over 2,200 likes as of the time of writing.
Various users have also posted similar AI-generated photos in a Facebook group called ‘Bhojraj Thapa’. Those photos have also received thousands of reactions, comments, and shares. In the group, a user named ‘Lalit Jagri’ has made public various AI-generated photos of Balen mourning at 2:41 pm on December 2 (Tuesday).
In the post, he wrote, “Balen Shah spent the night crying, this is love for his father, everyone please like and write ‘Be Strong’.” More than 5,600 likes and 439 comments have been received. Many have also commented on the post saying ‘Be strong’.
The pages and groups mentioned above have not only posted photos of Mayor Shah’s father mourning but also posted photos of other people who are going viral on social media using AI and posted them with emotional statuses.
There are many AI-generated photos of cancer-stricken children Salin Kumal and Jasmine Basnet. Similarly, various AI-generated photos of Ravi Lamichhane in jail and claims that he has joined the Gen-Z group in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
According to experts, creators have started using AI photos because posting photos that interest and make people feel emotional increases engagement. However, such posts are misleading the general user, says Ujjwal Acharya, Managing Director of CMR Nepal Journalism Academy.
Acharya says, “There are many types of users on social media. Not all of them can distinguish between content created by AI and real photos. They assume AI-generated content to be reality and form opinions accordingly.”
When people see things through AI that they think would have happened like this, they believe them without looking at them critically. Acharya said, “If there is content that benefits their group or opinion, there is a tendency to share it even though they know it is wrong.”
He analyzes that even if content creators use such content to establish their desired narrative, it is not morally right. “While such content may seem beneficial in the short term, it is detrimental in the long term,” Acharya added.
According to him, photos and videos attract more attention on social media than plain text. However, when real photos are not available, users are increasingly using AI. “AI content can be used transparently to convey events or information in the absence of real photos. However, posting such content without clearly disclosing that it was created by AI is spreading misinformation,” Acharya said.
AI expert Professor Suresh Manandhar says that as platforms like TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube become a source of income, the use of AI content to reach more people has increased. He believes that confusion has spread in society because users cannot distinguish images created by AI.
To stop this trend, Manandhar emphasizes that social media platforms should automatically provide a banner or label saying ‘AI generated’ when AI content is posted.
He said, “YouTube has created an auto system to detect content created by AI. TikTok also has a feature where the creator can select it as AI generated.” Since TikTok is already registered in Nepal, he said, the government should also take the initiative to make the banner or label mandatory so that everyone knows about AI content. He believes that such information can save many people from misinformation.
Although using AI is not completely wrong, Manandhar believes that transparency should be adopted in it. He also emphasized that the media should also make readers aware and well-informed about how to distinguish content created by AI.
पछिल्लो अध्यावधिक: मंसिर १९, २०८२ १२:३६
