MEME WARFARE IN DIGITAL AGE: AI GENERATED HUMOUR AS A TOOL IN INDIA-PAKISTAN CONFLICT (2025)

Abstract

This study investigates the emerging phenomenon of AI-generated memes as psychological weapons in the India-Pakistan conflict 2025, focusing on the digital warfare escalation. The research investigates how both nations are engaged in an “AI meme arms race,” where synthetic content creation precedes and potentially instigates physical confrontations, effectively capturing audiences mentally before any military engagement occurs. Employing Baudrillard’s hyper-reality theory as its primary theoretical framework, the study explores how AI-generated memes create self-referential war narratives independently of factual events. The research utilizes James Paul Gee's Seven Building Tasks for Discourse Analysis to systematically examine 10 purposively sampled AI-generated memes (5 from each side) collected from Facebook, the primary battleground for this digital conflict. The sample focuses on content exhibiting clear markers of AI generation, including deepfake imagery, algorithmically optimized humor, and synthetic text elements. The analysis addresses three critical dimensions: How AI memes construct hyperreal war narratives that blend and distort factual events, the comparative strategies employed by Indian and Pakistani digital combatants in meme warfare, and the mechanisms through which synthetic content achieves psychological impact before physical conflict. The study particularly examines how AI tools enable rapid, mass-produced content that traditional fact-checking mechanisms cannot effectively counter, creating an environment where simulated realities dictate public perception and potentially influence policy decisions. This research contributes to the growing body of knowledge on digital warfare by providing discourse analysis of AI-generated memes in interstate conflict. Indian and Pakistani memes deploy contrasting strategies to assert national superiority; India emphasizes dominance and heroification Modi, while Pakistan uses satire to undermine Modi and highlight its own resilience. Both sides construct power hierarchies and geopolitical narratives through symbolic practices, metaphors, and visual rhetoric