By Nilesh Christopher
30 October 2023 • Bengaluru, India
The Indian internet is rife with AI-created songs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi crooning in languages like Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.
AI-powered voice cloning tools are also being used ahead of the upcoming elections, with personalized messages in the voices of politicians sent to voters and party workers.
The internet has been amused at an Instagram Reel where Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi can be heard “singing” a hit Bollywood song. Accompanying the singing is a picture of Modi sitting cross-legged, strumming a guitar. The video, made by creator @ai_whizwires using artificial intelligence, has over 3.4 million views. “Before uploading [it], I was a little scared. But after it went live, everybody was enjoying it,” @ai_whizwires, who didn’t want to be identified by his real name over fear of political backlash, told Rest of World.
The rise of free AI voice-cloning tools has allowed Indian meme pages like his to mix politics with entertainment and trolling, drawing more eyeballs and engagement. Over the last few weeks, Modi’s digitally rendered voice has been used for videos not just in Hindi, but also in south Indian languages like Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada, captivating audiences in regions where Hindi is not commonly spoken.
But the videos, though lighthearted, serve a larger political purpose in India, a country with 22 official languages. Modi’s Hindi speeches can often be inaccessible to large swathes of the population that does not understand the language, but voice cloning could help make campaigns accessible, political strategist Sagar Vishnoi told Rest of World. AI voice cloning could break down this language barrier in India, especially the north-south linguistic divide, he said. “AI can be game-changing for [the] 2024 elections.”