Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign is accusing billionaire Elon Musk of spreading "manipulated lies" after he reposted a video on X featuring an AI-generated voice imitating the vice president. Musk, who has endorsed former President Donald Trump, shared the video on his social media platform without noting that the video was originally released as an explicit parody, violating X's own policy that bars users from sharing “synthetic, manipulated, or out-of-context media that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm."
The fake video reiterates racist attacks against Harris, who previously served as a U.S. senator and attorney general of California.
“I, Kamala Harris, am your Democrat candidate for president because Joe Biden finally exposed his senility at the debate,” the voice says, adding she is a "diversity hire" who doesn't know "the first thing about running the country." The fake-Harris voiceover is played alongside real clips of Harris used by her campaign in an earlier ad, authentic Harris campaign branding and the occasional statement from the actual candidate.
The mocking statements by the voiceover echoes statements from Republican politicians that Harris was only picked as Biden's running mate because she is a Black and Indian-American woman.
In a statement, a Harris campaign spokesperson told the Associated Press that "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.” Musk has since responded on X that “parody is legal in America," including the original video by @MrReaganUSA in the post.
Two AI experts told the AP that the video represents the growing power deepfakes in shaping popular opinion and belief.
“The AI-generated voice is very good,” UC Berkeley digital forensics expert Hany Farid told the news service. “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.”
Rob Weissman, co-president of the advocacy group Public Citizen, said that many people will be completely fooled by the video.
“I don’t think that’s obviously a joke,” Weissman said. “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.”
