NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe speaks with University of California, Berkeley, digital forensics expert Hany Farid about a recent political ad that used an AI-cloned vocal clip.
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
A remarkable campaign ad aired in Iowa earlier this month. It’s from a group that supports Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis in the 2024 presidential race, and it attacks former President Trump. On its surface, it looks and sounds like a typical campaign ad, but something happens that makes this one very different. The ad features a soundbite of what sounds like former President Trump’s voice.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
AI-GENERATED VOICE: (As Donald Trump) I opened up the governor position for Kim Reynolds, and when she fell behind, I endorsed her.
RASCOE: But Trump never said those words. The voice in the ad was allegedly created using artificial intelligence to read something Trump wrote on social media. Hany Farid is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and a digital forensics expert, and he joins us now. Welcome.
HANY FARID: Good to be with you, Ayesha.
RASCOE: So AI can do a lot in this realm. What are the specific risks of using AI voices and using the voice of a candidate who you’re running against with AI?
FARID: I think there’s two risks here that we have to think about. One is the ability to create an audio recording of your opponent saying things that they never said. But the other concern we should have is that when the candidate really does get caught saying something, how are we going to determine whether it’s real or not? And think back to 2016 when Donald Trump was caught on the Access Hollywood tape. He apologized at the time because there was no out. But now it’s fake. And so I think we have to worry about two things – the fake content, but also how are we going to validate the very real content that is going to emerge in the coming years?
RASCOE: People who have listened to Trump talk…
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