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Tesla CEO Elon Musk spread “manipulated lies” when he reposted an altered video featuring Vice President Kamala Harris on X, according to her presidential campaign.
In-between posting about the Paris Olympics and Tesla’s latest software updates, Musk on Friday shared a video from YouTuber Mr. Reagan, which featured fake artificial-intelligence generated audio of Harris speaking over campaign footage. “I, Kamala Harris, am your Democrat candidate for president because Joe Biden finally exposed his senility at the debate,” the voice says in the video.
The voice mimicking Harris also said she is the “ultimate diversity hire,” said her critics were “both sexist and racist,” and implied she would be a “Deep State puppet.” The video included some visuals used by an actual advertisement from Harris’s campaign.
Since Friday, the original post by Mr. Reagan has collected 14.4 million views. Musk’s own post — which, unlike the original, did not include a “parody” disclaimer and simply calls the video “amazing” — has received almost 130 million views.
X’s guidelines prohibit sharing any manipulated or synthetic content that may deceive or confuse people. The platform, which Musk bought and rebranded from Twitter in 2022, can also label posts with misleading media as such. As of Monday morning, there are no labels present on Musk’s repost.
“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,” a Harris campaign spokesperson told The Associated Press.
The video is just the latest example of how AI could be used as a tool to confuse unaware netizens and mock candidates for elected office.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ now-defunct presidential campaign posted deepfakes of Donald Trump kissing Anthony Fauci, who led the U.S. response to the pandemic, to social media last summer. Political actors across Asia and Europe — including in Poland, China, and Bangladesh — have been using AI-generated content and deepfakes for months.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democratic representing Minnesota, said if Musk and his platform don’t label the post as “AI-generated,” they will be “unleashing an entire election season” of altered content “with no limits, regardless of party.” Klobuchar also called on the Senate to pass a pair of bills she has sponsored that would require disclaimers on AI-generated political ads and ban the use of deepfakes.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom — who has praised Tesla but earned Musk’s scorn for his stance on transgender rights legislation — said that the video should be “illegal” and that he would sign legislation banning such content “in a few weeks.” California lawmakers have proposed laws that would ban the use of election-related deepfakes, citing concerns sparked by AI-generated robocalls that impersonated President Joe Biden’s voice during a presidential primary.
Musk replied with a series of taunts and attempts at jokes, including citing the “world renowned world authority, Professor Suggon Deeznutz.”