Deepfakes, digital IDs, and the crisis of being “real” online
It’s never been easier to fake a face. Thanks to hyperrealistic deepfake technology, we’ve now entered an era where your image, your voice, even your body language can be replicated with unsettling precision. All it takes is a few minutes of training data, and you, or a synthetic version of you, can appear in a video you never shot, saying words you never spoke. That’s not just a glitch in the system. It’s a crisis for the very idea of identity.
Aditya Chhabra, Founder & CTO, CreateBytes says “in a world where deepfakes are eroding the boundaries between real and synthetic, identity is no longer just about documents or biometrics, it’s about context, continuity, and consent.
At CreateBytes, we’re exploring ways to embed contextual intelligence into digital systems. So even if a voice or face is mimicked, behavioral nuance and environment-aware patterns can still authenticate truth. This isn’t just a technical challenge, it’s a trust crisis. From fintech to creator platforms, the pressure is mounting to shift from static identity proofs to dynamic, self-sovereign models that users truly control. We believe the answer lies in building transparent AI pipelines and incorporating human-in-the-loop design to verify not just what’s said, but how and why it’s said. The future of digital identity won’t be a single solution, it’ll be a symphony of ethics, cryptography, and human judgment.”
As deepfakes get sharper, generative AI becomes more seamless, and digital impersonaton tools proliferate, we’re left with one pressing question: In a world of infinite forgery, how do we stay real?
The deepfake dilemma isn’t just technical, it’s existential. Deepfakes used to be viral curiosities. Now they’re political weapons, corporate threats, and tools of online manipulation. In 2024, a deepfake of President Biden almost roiled the New Hampshire primaries. AI-generated scam calls have impersonated CEOs to authorize multimillion-dollar fund transfers. A new underground market now sells bespoke deepfakes for blackmail, revenge, or misinformation.
As these synthetic personas become indistinguishable from reality, identity is no longer a stable asset, it’s an attack surface. And it’s forcing society to re-negotiate a fundamental assumption of the internet: that people are who they say they are.
In response, a new frontier is gaining momentum, verifiable digital identity. From Aadhaar inIndia to Apple’s Face ID to blockchain-based ID systems, we’re seeing a rush to rebuild the architecture of trust. Some emerging ideas include self-sovereign identity, where individuals control their credentials stored in digital wallets and verified by trusted institutions; biometric-backed IDs that use fingerprints, iris scans, or facial data to authenticate identity, sometimes controversially so; and decentralized identifiers (DIDs), which are open protocols for proving identity without centralized gatekeepers.
At its core, the question is this: How do we digitally prove we’re human, without surrendering our privacy? But here’s where it gets thornier. What if the “you” online isn’t just your real-world self, but a curated, AI-augmented persona? What if your digital twin negotiates contracts on your behalf? Or your voice clone becomes your virtual caretaker? Or your avatar sits in meetings for you?
This isn’t sci-fi. It’s already happening. Actors are licensing digital twins of themselves to studios. Influencers are using AI clones to chat with fans 24/7. Founders are prototyping virtual versions of themselves to scale communication.
In this landscape, identity becomes performative. We’re not just proving we’re real, we’re designing versions of ourselves that are optimized, filtered, and possibly autonomous. So we’re now juggling three versions of identity: legal identity, which is who you are in the eyes of the state; social identity, which is who you are in the eyes of others; and synthetic identity, which is who you could be with AI. The gaps between them are becoming harder, and more important, to police. Startups, especially in content, health, fintech, and creator-tech, will face direct consequences.
From stricter KYC norms to higher verification costs and reputational risk, the era of “build fast and break things” may be replaced by “verify first and build cautiously.” If your platform allows user-generated content, you may be expected to detect and label deepfakes before they go viral.
If your product uses avatars, voice clones, or AI personas, the pressure to declare what’s synthetic and what’s human will only grow. And if you’re fundraising, expect investors to ask: How future-proof is your identity model? In short, trust infrastructure will be as critical as product-market fit.
Mr. Praveen J., MD and a Founding Member of RSK Business Solutions says “as deepfake technology becomes increasingly hyper-realistic, the integrity of digital identity, face, voice, behavior is under threat like never before. We are entering a world where our own likeness can be convincingly replicated, raising urgent questions around authentication, privacy, and trust.
Technologies such as blockchain-based IDs, Self-Sovereign Identity, and Aadhaar-style biometric systems offer promising solutions by anchoring identity to human-controlled mechanisms rather than synthetic representations. However, this creates an imperative for startups in fintech, creator-tech, content, and health to build trust-first platforms with rigorous identity safeguards. A comprehensive approach, combining regulatory oversight, ethical design, and collaboration with policymakers and identity experts, is essential if we are to preserve authenticity and certainty in an AI-manipulated world”
This isn’t a battle between fake and real. It’s a negotiation between trust and scale.
Governments want robust ID systems to protect citizens, but risk overreach and surveillance. Companies want user authentication, but often pass the cost of verification to consumers. Creators want digital freedom, but are now vulnerable to reputational deepfake attacks.
Apurv Abhay Modi, Managing Director, Abhay Health says that “the new digital world doesn’t just put data at risk; it muddles the core of who we are. As deepfakes become harder to spot, even our most unique traits like how we look, sound, and move can turn into ways to trick people.
When we’re online, we can’t just assume someone is who they say they are; we need proof. While tech like Aadhaar blockchain IDs, and self-managed identity pave the way for better online verification, big hurdles still exist. Every new offering, whether in content, fintech, or healthcare,now stands on the front lines tasked with protecting trust itself. In this new world, tech’s biggest win won’t just be coming up with new ideas; it’ll be bringing back certainty and keeping our identities safe.”
Some urgent design questions emerge. Should every video come with a watermark or authenticity certificate? Who governs global identity standards, governments, platforms, or
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations? Can we use AI to detect and counter AI generated fakes fast enough? And perhaps most crucially: Is authenticity a technical problem or a cultural one? Because the internet has always blurred the line between who we are and who we pretend to be. Deepfakes simply expose how fragile that boundary truly is.
In the next decade, we’ll likely see AI detectors trying to outpace AI fakes in an escalating arms race of verification. We’ll see new legislation around digital likeness and voice rights. We’ll witness a resurgence in offline validation as people seek face-to-face connection to anchor trust.
And we’ll see digital personas become assets you can license, protect, and even insure.
The truth is, we’re building new infrastructure for reality itself, not just for what is true, but for who gets to be considered real. And the stakes couldn’t be higher. If identity becomes a lie we can all buy, then truth becomes a privilege only the verified can afford.
Let’s not let it get there.
