Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy blamed Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated visuals for ‘misleading society’ over the Kancha Gachibowli land issue. He instructed government officials in a meeting on Saturday, April 5, to appeal to courts on behalf of the state government to order an inquiry into “the creation of AI fake content which misled the entire society.”
A statement from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said that top police officers told the CM that some “vested interests” made fabricated videos and AI images of crying peacocks and injured deers running away after being hit by bulldozers. “Even some famous persons in various fields presumed the fake videos and photos circulating on social media to be true, and it added fuel to the lies,” they said.
The meeting was attended by CM Revanth, Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka, Ministers Danasari Anasuya (Seethakka), Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, and other officials.
Student protests over the clearing of 400 acres of land on the University of Hyderabad (UoH) campus intensified last week, as the Revanth Reddy government sent in earth movers to clear the ground which it intended to develop and sell to IT companies. The Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of the issue on April 3 and stayed all land clearing activity in the disputed area.
Students, faculty, and environmentalists have opposed the commercial use of the Kancha Gachibowli land, as it is rich in biodiversity. They argue that it is an important and rare green lung space in west Hyderabad, with a rich ecosystem of lakes, rock formations, and hundreds of species of plants, birds, and vulnerable animals.
The UoH campus is also home to several peacocks and deer. As the issue gained nationwide attention, several AI-generated images of peacocks and deer were circulated, as well as old or unverified visuals of animals, with music, text, and other messaging intended to evoke an emotional response from viewers.
At the meeting with CM Revanth on April 5, officials said that some people created “fake videos and photos” using AI and circulated them widely on social media, which became a “big challenge” for the government. This content was shared by actors John Abraham, Dia Mirza, and Raveena Tandon, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, BJP leader and Union Minister G Kishan Reddy, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader G Jagadish Reddy and others, which officials said “sent a wrong message to society after they uploaded fake posts (videos and photos) on social media believing them to be true.”
The CMO noted that journalist Sumit Jha of South First too had posted an unverified image of an injured deer, which he later removed and apologised, clarifying that it was an older visual unrelated to the recent clearing of land in Kancha Gachibowli.
Officials told the CM that several projects have been built on the Kancha Gachibowli land of Survey No. 24 in the past 25 years, including the Indian School of Business (ISB) campus, the Gachibowli Stadium, International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H), and other private buildings and residential apartments. None of these constructions witnessed major disputes or invoked serious concerns, the officials said.
“There were no such controversies on wildlife conservation and environmental issues at that time of construction,” officials said, while discussing the reasons behind the Kancha Gachibowli controversy.
The CM and officials pointed out that there could be a serious threat in the future if such false AI content is created on sensitive issues such as border disputes with Pakistan and China.
CM Revanth ordered police officials to strengthen the Cybercrime Department to prevent such incidents from recurring, asking them to use advanced tools to detect fake AI content immediately.
Earlier, the Gachibowli police had registered an FIR against BRS leader Krishank Manne and former state digital media director Dileep Konatham for allegedly posting misleading content on the official social media channels of BRS.