AI & politics: Elon Musk shares AI video of Kamala Harris

Elon Musk shared a video on X which mimics the voice of Kamala Harris raising concerns over the effect AI deep fakes could have on the upcoming US elections.

Musk has publicly endorsed Donald Trump in his bid for a second term and has used his X platform to share his political and social views with his 191 million followers.

The video showed real visuals from Harris’ campaign ads but the voice-over uses an AI-generated clone of her voice. The voice imitation is impressively accurate as it has ‘Harris’ say “I, Kamala Harris, am your Democrat candidate for president because Joe Biden finally exposed his senility at the debate.”

When the maker of the video, a YouTuber known as Mr Reagan, posted the video on X and YouTube he disclosed that it was a parody. When Musk reposted it he simply said, “This is amazing” and added a laughing emoji, but no disclosure that the video was manipulated and intended as a parody.

Musk has been criticized for sharing the AI-manipulated video with predictable outrage from Democrats. California Governor Gavin Newsom said his “Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models” bill, also known as SB 1047, will address the risks inherent in AI manipulated videos.

X’s policies state that “You may not share synthetic, manipulated, or out-of-context media that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm (“misleading media”).” The terms state that memes and satire do not violate these policies “provided these do not cause significant confusion about the authenticity of the media.”

Musk obviously felt that the satirical nature of the video was self-evident.

I checked with renowned world authority, Professor Suggon Deeznutz, and he said parody is legal in America https://t.co/OCBewC3XYD

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 29, 2024

Not everyone agrees that the millions of people who watched the video would understand that it’s an AI-manipulated joke.

Rob Weissman, co-president of the advocacy group Public Citizen said, “I don’t think that’s obviously a joke. 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.”

Last week the FCC released a proposed rule requiring disclosure of AI-generated content in political ads on radio and TV.

Weissman said, “Consumers have a right to know when AI tools are being used in the political ads they see on the airwaves. That’s the common-sense foundation for the FCC’s desperately needed proposed rules on AI broadcast transparency.

“We’re barreling towards elections which may be distorted, or even decided, by political deepfakes. Yet this is an entirely avoidable dystopia, if regulators simply demand disclosures when AI is used in political communications, including in broadcast TV and radio ads.”

Was the Mr Reagan video a political ad, a joke, or a bit of both?

Political satire has been around for centuries but cartoons or a standup comic doing an impression are easy to tell from the real thing. Videos like the one Musk shared blur the lines considerably.

As AI-generated voices and videos keep improving, expect the appetite for political gamesmanship and hiding behind the ‘I was only joking’ defense to ramp up.

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