The video of US Vice President Kamala Harris went viral on social media after billionaire Elon Musk shared it on X.
A duped video of Vice President Kamala Harris has made it to social media, and it features her voice saying things that she actually did not say. The video gained traction after Elon Musk shared it on his social media platform X on Friday without noting that it was a parody. However, with the US Election Day just three months away, it certainly has raised concerns about the use of artificial intelligence in politics to mislead people.
While the voice is altered, the video has the same visuals of the advertisement that the likely Democratic president nominee Harris released during her campaign last week. Instead, it uses voice-over audio with another voice.
“I, Kamala Harris, am your Democrat candidate for president because Joe Biden finally exposed his senility at the debate,” the voice in the video says. It further mentions how Harris is a “diversity hire” since she is a woman and a person of color. However, she doesn’t know “the first thing about running the country.” Albeit, reacting to the video, Mia Ehrenberg, a Harris campaign spokesperson, informed The Associated Press, “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.”
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
The video, which has now been widely shared, shows how AI-generated images, videos or audio clips can be used to mislead people about politics ahead of the United States presidential election. Since these high-quality AI tools have become accessible to all, there needs to be an action to regulate their use. The video raises huge concerns because the social media content blurs the lines of what is the correct usage of AI.
The original duped video was shared by a YouTuber known as Reagan. However, he had clearly disclosed, both on YouTube and on X, that the altered video is a parody. However, Musk shared the video in a post, which has now been viewed more than 123 million times, and he captioned it as, “This is amazing” with a laughing emoji.
While in such cases, X users are directed to the original user’s post, but Musk’s caption does not direct them to the original post. However, he later commented on the same video post he shared, and wrote, “I checked with renowned world authority, Professor Suggon Deeznutz, and he said parody is legal in America.”
Meanwhile, Musk had earlier endorsed former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.
Earlier too, several generative AI deep fakes, both in the US and elsewhere, have influenced voters with misinformation. In Slovakia in 2023, fake audio clips impersonated a candidate and talked about plans to rig an election. In Louisiana in 2022, a Louisiana mayoral candidate’s face was used for an actor portraying him as an underachieving high school student.
