A Bengaluru-based tech professional has sparked debate around the misuse of artificial intelligence after demonstrating how Google's AI tool, Nano Banana, can be used to generate highly realistic-looking identity cards.
Harveen Singh Chadha, the techie, used the AI model to create fake versions of PAN and Aadhaar cards bearing the name "Twitterpreet Singh," and shared the results online to highlight a potential security risk.
"Nano Banana is good, but that is also a problem. It can create fake identity cards with extremely high precision. The legacy image verification systems are doomed to fail," Chadha wrote on social media platform X.
Chadha's demonstration underlines growing concerns about how advanced generative AI tools can be misused to create fraudulent documents, raising alarms for digital identity verification systems and regulatory frameworks.
His post has prompted discussions online about the urgent need for better safeguards, updated verification technologies, and responsible AI use in India's rapidly digitising ecosystem.
One user pointed out that Google's Gemini adds hidden digital fingerprints called SynthID to AI-generated images, which can be verified through the Gemini app. Harveen responded, saying, "No one is going to scan every ID proof through the Gemini app."
Another user argued that the fake cards wouldn't match official data and highlighted the presence of QR-like patterns for verification - questioning the effectiveness of systems that fail to detect fakes. Harveen countered by asking, "When you show Aadhaar at a hotel or airport, do they really scan it?"
A third user chimed in, stressing that true verification means checking the provided information against an undisputable source, and simply glancing at an ID card doesn't qualify as proper verification.
