'AI has industrialised deception': UIDAI official at AI Impact Summit 2026

At the AI Impact Summit 2026, Barada Prasad Sabut, the Head of Engineering for the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), addressed the pressing issue of an "identity paradox" brought on by advancements in Artificial Intelligence. He cautioned that new deception technologies pose a significant threat to trust in digital identity systems. Sabut noted that for centuries, identity verification depended on physical presence—matching signatures or verifying photographs on identification documents. However, the rise of the internet has shifted this verification process to remote methods. He explained, "With the advent of internet, identity verification shifted from physical domain to a remote kind of verification. The verifiability context came into play. Like if I can verify a biometric which is being offered whether in front of an assisted mode or in a remote process, I trust that person. Along with the verifiability also came deception." Despite recognizing that some level of deception has always existed, Sabut emphasized that AI has taken this deception to a new level. He stated, "What happened with AI? The deception technique became industrialised - the way the fake voice, fake biometrics, and fake facial images are being generated. I wouldn't be wrong if I say that the deception technology has matured well and well ahead of its time." Inclusivity remains a critical challenge for identity platforms, especially for Aadhaar, which underpins India's digital public infrastructure. Sabut explained that UIDAI's AI models are designed to reflect India's diverse demographics in order to minimize bias, yet he acknowledged that certain populations are still lacking access to features like face authentication. He called for collaborative efforts within the industry to enhance inclusivity. Addressing privacy concerns, Sabut reassured that UIDAI safeguards one of the largest biometric databases globally, with over 1.4 billion Aadhaar holders. He emphasized that the data is not available for unrestricted AI training and highlighted the authority’s commitment to data minimization and responsible usage. Furthermore, he urged the tech community to create privacy-preserving solutions that allow innovation without risking citizen data. Trust is fundamental to the functionality of Aadhaar, as banks and authentication agencies rely on UIDAI for verification. Sabut advocated for maintaining and strengthening this trust as AI continues to evolve, particularly at a population scale with minimal delays. Since integrating AI in 2019, UIDAI has implemented fingerprint liveness detection and other AI applications to combat fraud in biometric data submissions. Traditional biometric deduplication methods are being replaced with secure and unbiased AI-driven models. Sabut also addressed the complexities of verifying documents during enrollment, especially given linguistic diversity. He mentioned that UIDAI is exploring AI-driven document processing and optical character recognition technologies to ensure precise onboarding. Additionally, he discussed using sovereign AI models to communicate with residents in their local languages and dialects, enhancing the verification process in cases of suspicious activity. Concluding his remarks, Sabut described AI as both a threat and an opportunity. He emphasized the importance of partnering with industry leaders to develop advanced fraud detection systems and to protect India's identity platform from the evolving risks posed by AI technologies.