DetectifAI founder started company after grandfather was targeted in deepfake voice scam

DetectifAI was founded by Tarini Padmanabhuni after her grandfather was caught up in a deepfake voice scam involving her grandfather’s brother. The San Francisco startup is building a compact AI model designed to run directly on smartphones and flag fake audio in real time. The company is currently competing in the Startup Battlefield contest at TechCrunch Disrupt. The report, cited by Techub News, ties the company’s origin directly to a personal incident involving voice deepfake fraud and highlights its focus on on-device detection rather than cloud-based analysis. DetectifAI’s product is aimed at identifying manipulated voice content as it is encountered, with smartphone deployment presented as a key part of its approach.