The former President of Pakistan, Imran Khan, is using AI to campaign while he languishes in jail. This could provide a template for President Trump in the case that he gets convicted but is still running for President.
Using simple speech samples that Khan recorded, AI was able to create a map of his voice. Combined with video, Khan was able to construct an engaging speech. The Verge explains:
Former prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan has been in prison since August for illegally selling state gifts — but that hasn’t stopped him from campaigning. The leader’s political party released a four-minute video on Sunday evening that used AI-voice cloning technology to replicate his voice. In the video, which aired during a “virtual rally” in Pakistan, the dubbed audio is accompanied by a caption that states, “AI voice of Imran Khan based on his notes.”
Jibran Ilyas, a social media leader for Khan’s party (known as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI), posted the video on X.
https://x.com/agentjay2009/status/1736531906538443076
In turn, the Pakistani government is attempting to shut down these diffusions. Social media outages throughout the country are being blamed on the government, who has denied responsibility. The Washington Post continued:
Ahead of the event, cybersecurity monitoring firm NetBlocks reported a nationwide disruption to social media platforms. “The incident is consistent with previous instances of internet censorship targeting opposition leader Imran Khan and his party PTI,” it said in an update. Pakistan’s telecommunications regulator said that it was investigating the outages but that overall connectivity appeared to be normal, according to Reuters.
The PTI member said the party would vet any further use of the AI technology, adding that they recognized it should not be misused by bad-faith actors pretending it iscoming from Khan.
Should Donald Trump be imprisoned following a conviction, his candidacy for the Presidency will not be over. Socialist candidate Eugene Debs campaigned for President from prison in 1920, for anti-war activism. With the medium of video and voice, a sufficiently skilled AI could give the impression that Trump is still engaging in rallies and project him on stages.
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