Image posted on Instagram. (courtesy: unfixface

Deep fakes have become common in today’s Artificial Intelligence-driven world. About a week ago, actress Wamiqa Gabbi posted a video on Instagram, and now someone has created a deep fake video, replacing her face with Alia Bhatt. The video has gone viral, and many users have pointed out that the clip has been manipulated. In the video, the actress is seen wearing a red saree with a braided hairdo, while sitting on the floor. A user shared the video on Instagram with the caption, “Alia Bhatt off screen.” This led to various reactions in the comment section. A user asked, “Which app?” Someone else wrote, “Is this legal?? U r using alia’s face.” Clarifying that it is actually Wamiqa Gabbi’s video, a user mentioned, “This is the actual video of Wamiqa Gabbi. They replaced it with Alia’s face using AI.” An Instagram user even tagged Alia Bhatt and commented, “How is this possible?” 

In case you missed it, below is the original video posted by Wamiqa Gabbi.

It is not the first time that a morphed video of an actress has gone viral. Last year, British-Indian influencer Zara Patel’s face was replaced with Rashmika Mandanna in the video. In the clip, she can be seen entering an elevator. Sharing her reaction to the clip, Rashmika posted a detailed note on X (formerly known as Twitter). She wrote, “I feel really hurt to share this and have to talk about the deepfake video of me being spread online. Something like this is honestly, extremely scary not only for me, but also for each one of us who today is vulnerable to so much harm because of how technology is being misused.”

“Today, as a woman and as an actor, I am thankful for my family, friends and well-wishers who are my protection and support system. But if this happened to me when I was in school or college, I genuinely can’t imagine how could I ever tackle this. We need to address this as a community and with urgency before more of us are affected by such identity theft,” Rashmika Mandanna added.

I feel really hurt to share this and have to talk about the deepfake video of me being spread online.

Something like this is honestly, extremely scary not only for me, but also for each one of us who today is vulnerable to so much harm because of how technology is being misused.…

— Rashmika Mandanna (@iamRashmika) November 6, 2023

The deep fake video has gone viral at a time when Alia Bhatt is making global headlines for her appearance at the prestigious Met Gala 2024. Click here to read more about her visit. This is Alia’s second Met Gala appearance, after her debut last year.