A video shared on the social media service X is raising concerns about the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to mislead voters, with American elections about three months away.
The video causing concern shows U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris saying things she did not say. Harris is the likely Democratic Party presidential nominee. The video was changed using AI tools.
The video gained widespread attention after tech billionaire Elon Musk shared it on X last week. Musk did not write in his posting that the video was a parody. A parody is any work that imitates someone or something, with the purpose of being funny.
People who saw the video thought it had the appearance of a real political advertisement created by the Harris campaign. But the video’s audio has another voice that sounds like Harris but is not.
Harris began her presidential campaign after U.S. President Joe Biden said he would no longer seek reelection. Biden had already gained enough delegates in primary elections to be the party’s candidate.
In the video shared by Musk, the voice that sounds like Harris says, “I, Kamala Harris, am you Democrat candidate for president…” It says Harris is a “diversity hire” because she is a woman and is not white. It also says she does not know the “first thing about running the country.” The video uses real “Harris for President” images. It also contains real video of things Harris has said in the past.
Mia Ehrenberg is a Harris campaign spokesperson. Ehrenberg wrote in an email to the Associated Press (AP): “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.”
The widely shared video is an example of how AI-generated images, video and audio have been used to make fun of people or to mislead the public. AI-generated materials have increasingly targeted politics.
High-quality AI tools are now easier to find and use. Some people say there are not enough federal rules to control their use. Currently, states and social media services set rules for using AI for political purposes.
The fake video of Harris raises questions about how people should deal with videos that have been changed when they are parodies or satire.
A YouTube user known as Mr Reagan first shared the video. That user wrote on both YouTube and on X that the video was manipulated and that it was a parody.
Chris Kohls, the YouTube user known as Mr Reagan, pointed an AP reporter to another YouTube video he made early Monday in answer to the reaction of the parody video. In the new video, Kohls confirmed he used AI to make the fake ad and argued that it was clearly a parody.
However, Musk shared the parody ad by writing, “This is amazing.” He also included a “laughing” emoji. He did not clearly state that the video is a parody.
More than 123 million people have seen the video through Musk.
Musk’s X social media service has a feature called “community notes.” It permits users to add context to messages that might be misleading. Some people using the feature have suggested that Musk’s message should have said that the video was a parody. They say it might have violated X’s policies, which bar “out-of-context media that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm.”
The X policy makes exceptions for memes and satire, as long as such postings do not cause “significant confusion…”
The United States Congress has not passed a law on AI and politics. But federal agencies have made efforts to do so. The National Conference of State Legislatures says more than one-third of American states have passed their own laws regulating the use of AI in campaigns and elections.
The U.S. elections will take place on November 5.
I’m Ashley Thompson.
Ali Swenson reported this story for the Associated Press. Mario Ritter, Jr. adapted it for VOA Learning English.
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Words in This Story
parody –n. any artistic work that imitates the style or behavior of another person with the purpose of being funny
diversity –n. the condition of including many different kinds of things
manipulated –adj. changed in some way for a specific purpose
satire –n. a way of using humor to show that someone or something is foolish
feature –n. a quality, part or ability of a product that is worth noting
context –n. the additional information necessary to understand a piece of writing, video, sound or an image
confuse –v. to use language or images to prevent people from understanding something
meme –n. an image that spreads quickly and becomes popular with certain people
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