How Indian politicians are using deepfakes for voter outreach; an estimated 50M+ AI voice calls were made in the two months before the elections in April 2024 (Wired) wired.com/story/indian-e… 📫 Subscribe: techmeme.com/newsletter?fro… techmeme.com/240521/p5#a240…

AI clone voices of politicians are now mainstream for one-way voter outreach calls this election season. But can we rely on AIs for unsupervised chats with humans? Not yet — it could be disastrous AI hallucination example from WIRED investigation👇 wired.com/story/indian-e…

India's politicians are using "AI to help them navigate the nation’s 22 official languages and thousands of regional dialects, and to deliver personalized messages in farther-flung communities." Nilesh Christopher and Varsha Bansal for WIRED wired.com/story/indian-e…

A thorough investigative story from Nilesh Christopher and Varsha Bansal on AI and deep fakes in the Indian election campaigns.👇🏾 wired.com/story/indian-e…

During a period where a lot has been written/said about generative AI, and how it may or may not be used during elections- this piece by Varsha Bansal and Nilesh Christopher really stands out.

NEW:Amazon India has been in late-stage talks to acquire MX Player in a distress sale. According to source, Times Internet will get around $50 Mn from Amazon. Times acquired MX Player in $200 Mn in 2018. A🧵on the deal.

And if you want more, listen to me, Leah Feiger, and Nilesh Christopher chat on this week's WIRED #PoliticsLab podcast about generative AI in the Indian elections, and around the world. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/its…

India’s election was ripe for a crisis of AI misinformation. It didn’t happen. So, what did? Read my The Atlantic essay to discover what unfolded, and the lessons it holds for the U.S. elections theatlantic.com/technology/arc…

Koo had a real shot at becoming the popular new social network — and even a Twitter alternative. But four years after launch, the Indian company is doing layoffs and has been unable to raise more funds to keep things afloat. By Varsha Bansal restofworld.org/2024/twitter-a…

In the midst of immense government support, Koo tried har to get PM Modi on to the platform. Many former employees told me that they had a dedicated team for the PMO to convince him to join the app. Two years in a row they expected Modi to join Koo, but that did not happen

Sources detail struggles at Koo, an Indian rival to X, including laying off ~80% of its workforce in recent months and being unable to raise more funds (@varshaabansal / Rest of World) restofworld.org/2024/twitter-a… 📫 Subscribe: techmeme.com/newsletter?fro… techmeme.com/240612/p9#a240…

"We wanted to build a social media platform for Indians, by Indians." Current and former workers at Koo spoke to Varsha Bansal about the struggling platform once heralded as a credible alternative to X/Twitter. restofworld.org/2024/twitter-a…

Honoured to have received Freelance Journalist of the Year award by One World Media. Thanks Peter Guest for commissioning the stories, and Pulitzer Center for supporting my reportage.

NEW: How a secret BJP war room used tech to mobilise female voters and win the Indian elections. My latest story with Nilesh Christopher for WIRED wired.com/story/how-a-se…

How a Secret BJP War Room Mobilized Female Voters to Win the Indian Elections In April, we got access to a BJP war room & documented the efforts to use technology to identify women who could bring other women out to vote, offering a glimpse of the future of campaigning in India