Tech billionaire Elon Musk recently shared a video on his social media platform X which used artificial intelligence to clone the voice of Vice President Kamala Harris, raising concerns over AI’s potential role in the election.
A video that utilized artificial intelligence (AI) to clone the voice of Vice President Kamala Harris and have her say things she never said gained attention after tech billionaire Elon Musk shared the video on his social media platform X. While the video was originally posted as a parody, Musk did not make it clear that the video was using AI and not real.
Late Sunday, Musk did clarify that the video was intended as satire, according to reports from Associated Press.
The video itself uses the same visuals that were used in a real advertisement from Harris, who is currently the likely Democratic presidential nominee after President Biden recently dropped out of the 2024 election. The fake advertisement, however, switches Harris’ real voice with a voice-over audio created using AI that impersonates Harris.
The AI voice, according to AP, claimed Harris to be “a diversity hire” due to the fact that she’s a woman of color. It also stated Harris doesn’t “know the first thing about running the country.”
“I, Kamala Harris, am your Democrat candidate for president because Joe Biden finally exposed his senility at the debate,” the AI voice said.
“We believe the American people want the real freedom, opportunity and security Vice President Harris is offering; not the fake, manipulated lies of Elon Musk and Donald Trump,” said Mia Ehrenberg, a Harris campaign spokesperson, to The Associated Press.
As election day in the US gets closer, the increase in AI generated videos used to parody and mislead the public about politics is concerning.
“As high-quality AI tools have become far more accessible, there remains a lack of significant federal action to regulate their use, leaving rules guiding AI in politics largely to states and social media platforms,” wrote Ali Swenson for AP.
Although the original user who posted the AI generated video, a YouTuber called Mr. Reagan, disclosed from the beginning that the video was manipulated and is parody, Musk didn’t make the distinction. Musk’s large following quickly reacted to the video, and it quickly gained 130 million views on X after he posted it.
X’s policies state that “users may not share synthetic, manipulated, or out-of-context media that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm.” Many users quickly cited this policy after recognizing the video Musk posted with the caption, “This is amazing,” was not real.
Hany Farid, a digital forensics expert from the University of California, Berkeley, stated that this is a clear example of how powerful AI is especially when utilized to create deep fakes.
“The AI-generated voice is very good. Even though most people won’t believe it is VP Harris’ voice, the video is that much more powerful when the words are in her voice.”
Farid stated that the companies that make these generative AI models need to be better about ensuring their services are used appropriately, and not in a way that could harm people or spread misinformation.
Rob Weissman, co-president of the advocacy group Public Citizen, disagreed, stating:
“I’m certain that most people looking at it don’t assume it’s a joke. The quality isn’t great, but it’s good enough. And precisely because it feeds into preexisting themes that have circulated around her, most people will believe it to be real.”
Congress has not passed any legislation regarding AI and politics, while federal agencies have only taken minor steps to combat the issue, and have mainly left the regulation up to the states. Currently about one-third of the states in the US have created laws to help regulate AI.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
