“Looked so real”: How AI is being used as a weapon against India’s Muslim women

New Delhi, India – When Samreen Ayoub saw the video for the first time, she was stunned.

The freelance model from Indian-administered Kashmir was scrolling on her phone last year when a friend sent her a clip that was circulating on Instagram.

The video appeared to tell the story of her life in New Delhi, complete with a narrator’s voice, captions and headlines like a television news segment. But it was completely made up.

“It was real stalking,” said 24-year-old Ayoub. “They had followed my life from the first to the last semester at university.”

The video stitched together photos from Ayoub’s time as a student at Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi – images from everyday moments of campus life, including group projects, farewell meetings and selfies with classmates.

The voiceover, generated using artificial intelligence, falsely claimed that she was a Muslim woman “selling her body to Hindu men.” It was misidentified…