Elon Musk is being accused of violating his own policies on X after shared a fake video from Vice President Harris, who uses an artificial intelligence voice imitating Harris to spew insults about her campaign and President Biden.
The video Musk shared on Friday pokes fun at a Harris campaign ad and features a voiceover calling Biden “senile” and Harris the “ultimate diversity hire.”
The video contains no disclaimer that it uses AI to imitate Harris’ voice, although the account’s original post “Mr. Reagan” labels this as a parody. Musk made no such distinction in his own post, a move that appears to violate Site X’s policy prohibiting “misleading media.”
Harris’ campaign took down Musk over the video.
“We believe the American people want the true freedom, opportunity and security that Vice President Harris provides; not the fake and manipulated lies of Elon Musk and Donald Trump,” campaign spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg said in an email.
California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) also shared the post, saying such videos should be against the law.
“Manipulating a voice in an ‘ad’ like this should be illegal,” he he wrote in X. “I will sign a bill in a matter of weeks to ensure that it does.”
The video hits several lines of attack against Harris.
“I, Kamala Harris, am your Democratic presidential candidate because Joe Biden finally exposed his senility in the debate,” says Harris’ fake voice in the video. “I was selected because I am the ultimate diversity hire. I’m a woman and a person of color, so if you criticize something, I say you’re sexist and racist.”
Federal regulators have increasingly sought to crack down on the use of deepfake technology to impersonate politicians after a New Hampshire man used Biden’s voice in a robocall in an attempt to suppress participation in the state’s primary election earlier this year. .
Public Citizen co-president Rob Weissman told the AP that the post is likely to mislead the public.
“I don’t think this is obviously a joke,” Weissman said. “I’m sure most people who look at this don’t assume it’s a joke. The quality isn’t great, but it’s good enough. And precisely because it feeds into pre-existing themes that have circulated around it, most people will believe it is real.”
Public Citizen has advocated for federal regulation of generative artificial intelligence. Weissman said the video is “the kind of thing we’ve been warning about.”
The video recalls growing concerns about deepfakes and AI technology in political ads, with ads using the technology already being used in the 2024 US election cycle and in elections abroad.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) introduced a proposal last week to force advertisers to disclose the use of AI in television and radio ads. The use of mimic voices is already prohibited for use in automated calls.
“Bad actors are already using AI technology in robocalls to deceive consumers and misinform the public. That’s why we want to establish rules that empower consumers to avoid this rubbish and make informed decisions,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said earlier this month.
The FCC proposal would not apply to ads and videos online and on streaming services, including the video shared by Musk.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
