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Fact-Check: Amitabh Bachchan Didn’t Voice This Viral Video About India

The video carries AI-synthesised audio, and was not narrated by actor Amitabh Bachchan.

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WebQoof
4 min read
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A video, which discusses various aspects of Indian society, is being widely shared, claiming that veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan gave his voice for the video.

What does the video say?: In the video, one can see visuals and hear related audio, where man asks about the humanity left in our country, questioning the viability of the idea of a "family" that India presents on the global stage.

  • Those sharing this video have claimed that actor Amitabh Bachchan lent his voice to narrate the video, while urging Indian Hindus to unite.

The video carries AI-synthesised audio, and was not narrated by actor Amitabh Bachchan.

An archive of this post can be seen here.

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

The Quint also received queries for this claim's verification on its WhatsApp tipline.

(Archives of more posts on social media can be seen here and here.)

Is it true?: No, the claim is false.

  • Several audio detection tools stated that the voice heard in the video had been manipulated with, or was made using a voice clone based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools.

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How did we find out the truth?: We went through the actor's X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook accounts, as well as his blog on Tumblr, but did not find this video or any mention of similar work there.

  • Next, we carefully observed the viral video and noticed a mark which read 'Appu Patel BJP'.

The video carries AI-synthesised audio, and was not narrated by actor Amitabh Bachchan.

The video carried a watermark.

(Source: Facebook/Altered by The Quint)

  • Taking a cue from this, we looked for accounts with similar names on social media platforms, which led us to a Facebook page which made similar videos.

  • While we did not find the viral video here, we saw that this page shared several pro-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) videos made in a similar style, using clips and images with edited visuals, some of which can be seen here, here, and here.

  • All of these edited videos also included the same watermark we saw in the viral video.

The video carries AI-synthesised audio, and was not narrated by actor Amitabh Bachchan.

We saw the same watermark on this page.

(Source: Facebook/Altered by The Quint)

What about the audio?: We shared the video with ConTrails AI, a Bangalore-based startup, that has its own AI tools for detection of audio and video spoofs, for an analysis of the audio part of the claim.

  • Their tool generated a report, which mentioned that the audio was manipulated.

The video carries AI-synthesised audio, and was not narrated by actor Amitabh Bachchan.

Contrails AI detected manipulation in the audio.

(Source: Contrails AI/Screenshot)

It also generated a graph which consistently showed values indicating audio manipulation.

The video carries AI-synthesised audio, and was not narrated by actor Amitabh Bachchan.

The graph strongly showed manipulation.

(Source: Contrails AI/Screenshot)

The Quint's WebQoof team is a part of the Deepfake Analysis Unit (DAU) of the Misinformation Combat Alliance (MCA), who also checked this video.

  • The DAU's check through Loccus.ai' voice detection tool, for the first 30 seconds of the video, showed strong indications of AI-related audio manipulation.

  • It showed stronger scores for the likelihood of the audio being AI-generated throughout this time period.

  • However, for the last 10 seconds of the video, the tool leaned more towards the audio being an authentic and not synthesised .

(Note: Swipe to view results)

TrueMedia's AI detection tool also said that it detected a substantial amount of audio manipulation in the viral video.

The video carries AI-synthesised audio, and was not narrated by actor Amitabh Bachchan.

TrueMedia detected "substantial evidence."

(Source: TrueMedia/Screenshot)

Its audio detection analysers found substantial evidence that the audio was generated using AI tools.

The video carries AI-synthesised audio, and was not narrated by actor Amitabh Bachchan.

TrueMedia was certain that the audio was created or manipulated using AI.

(Source: TrueMedia/Screenshot)

Conclusion: A video with AI-generated audio of a man speaking has gone viral with the false claim that actor Amitabh Bachchan lent his voice to the video.

(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9540511818 , or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)

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