AI Impact Summit: Indian Startup Pi-Labs Draws Visitors' Attention For Its Fight Against Deepfake
Pi-labs is highlighting deepfake threats and showcasing its AI-powered deepfake detection tool at authentify at the ongoing India AI Impact Summit.
Published : February 20, 2026 at 4:37 PM IST
By Santu Das
New Delhi: At the India AI Impact Summit, currently underway at Bharat Mandapam, an Indian deep-tech startup is drawing visitors to one of its booths, raising awareness about 'deepfake' and showcasing how its detection is necessary to safeguard integrity in the digital world.
Ankush Tiwari, Founder and CEO of pi-labs, asserted that deepfakes are no longer experimental; they are scalable, inexpensive, and highly convincing.
In a conversation with ETV Bharat, Tiwari called deepfakes a serious cross-sector threat and said, "Today, these technologies are exploited not only for political misinformation and election interference but also for financial fraud through voice cloning, executive impersonation, and enterprise-level social engineering attacks. Beyond that, they are increasingly used for reputation damage, character assassination, digital extortion, and cyber harassment."
He pointed out that the real danger is not just fake content, but the erosion of trust. "When people cannot distinguish real from fabricated media, public confidence, institutional credibility, and national security are at risk," he said.
At its booth, pi-labs presented an AI-driven deepfake detection and media authentication tool, 'authentify'. The CEO considers it different from conventional deepfake detection tools. "Backed by five patents and seven IEEE research publications, our detection engine is grounded in original research focused on forensic pattern analysis, not merely surface-level visual inspection," he said.
Adding further, he said that instead of relying only on generic classifiers, 'authentify' analyses deeper synthetic generation patterns and inconsistencies to deliver scientifically validated results.
"Importantly, pi-authentify is trained on Indian data, built for the Indian context, and maintained under Indian control. This enables higher contextual accuracy while advancing the vision of Build in India, AI for the World," Tiwari said.
The CEO further said, "Our solutions span deepfake detection, multimodal intelligence fusion, and advanced audio-video forensic analysis, helping transform fragmented digital signals into actionable intelligence for mission-critical environments."
"pi-labs is building sovereign AI systems purpose-built for national security, defence, and law enforcement. Our focus is not generic AI but mission-critical intelligence technologies designed specifically for the operational realities of defence and internal security agencies. We are working with multiple State and Central law enforcement agencies in India, including MahaCyber in Maharashtra," he said.
Tiwari explained that there was growing public recognition of the work done by Pi-labs in supporting cases involving deepfake threats, including efforts to protect Indian celebrities from misuse. He noted that Pi-labs had been actively involved in such cases, providing verification and analysis to counter manipulated content. As an example, he mentioned the Payal Gaming case, where Pi-labs assisted with deepfake detection and authenticity checks, thereby strengthening the overall investigation and clarifying the legitimacy of the material.
India is aware of the harm synthetic media can deliver, and it is trying to address the problem. Recently, the country tightened its IT Rules against AI-generated content, specifically deepfakes, requiring platforms to label such content and streamlining the removal process of synthetic media. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address at the India AI Impact Summit, expressed deep concern over deepfakes and emphasised the need for a global standard for fabricated content, requiring authenticity labels to help people distinguish between real and AI-generated content.
Referring to the Prime Minister's remarks on deepfakes, Ankush Tiwari said, "Deepfakes are no longer just internet experiments; they’ve become a real threat to democracy, national security, and public trust. So the Prime Minister raising this issue is both timely and necessary."
"People need a reliable way to know what is real and what is AI-generated. But labels must be backed by strong technology provenance systems, forensic validation, and transparent verification," he said.
Tiwary added, "India has a real opportunity to lead this space through a 'Build in India, Built for the World' approach to responsible AI governance. At pi-labs, we are working toward that vision by building indigenous deepfake detection technology focused on one core goal: restoring and protecting digital trust."
