Hyderabad: AI content is rapidly becoming a political tool for the University of Hyderabad protests (UOH). A particularly sinister image shared by a political party shows the sarcastic image of the Chief Minister surrounded by machines and dead animals, a reference to the fake Dead Deer video.
Photos of the deer claim to die during the land clearance, which actually began in 2019. Some people deleted the image, but others lingered.
The tool is powerful, it blurs the line between metaphor and message, as AI here is providing immediacy but also opening the door to chaos. Mislabeling or misuse of visual effects can undermine real protests.
An image shows a row of JCBs under the still blue sky. It is not real, it is generated by ai. It doesn’t claim to be true, but it touches people as artificial intelligence becomes a new medium for social media protests.
Protests against 400 acres of wild land and its proposed clearance of the park sparked anger from the campus and outside. Students and activists start using AI to create visual effects. These tools allow anyone to quickly generate powerful images, some posters imagined to be ruined, while others herald warnings. These are not to prove the harm, but to show how it looks.
AI provides a new way to express concern. In a few minutes, protesters may have visual effects that may take several days. These tools have upgraded the field and made art easier to use, thus expanding the scope.
Rachana Reddy, representative of NSUI HCU, acknowledged the tensions of how the protests represent online. “HCUSU never called us or ABVP,” she said. “There is internal politics. We have been eliminated from campus politics, but we have been there for it. However, the opposition has these exaggerated media images being used as vendetta.”
She added that many of the visuals had nothing to do with the protesters themselves. They originated outside campus and were used by others to promote political responsibility.
Apart from images, political consequences are growing. Commentators including actor Prakash Raj, Youtuber Dhruv Rathee and Nayini Anurag Reddy, etc., began sharing AI images to describe the situation as a national environmental issue.
Viral threads asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to intervene, another post breaks how to reverse the damage. Even AI accounts like Grok join the conversation, this time instead of creating visual effects, it describes lost biodiversity and calls for protection from development.
The protests have turned a blind eye. Some images are metaphors, others are misleading. What remains the same is the basic reality. The terrain is under threat. Biodiversity was documented. These machines are real. AI may help attract attention, but it cannot replace truth.
