How a magician who has never voted found himself at the center of an AI political scandal

A New Orleans street magician who has no fixed address, has never voted and claims to hold a world record in fork bending might seem like an unlikely candidate to be involved in a high-tech political scandal.

But on Friday, Paul Carpenter – whose magical feats include escaping a straitjacket in less than 11 seconds – entered the national political spotlight when he revealed himself as the creator of an AI-generated robocall imitating President Joe Biden’s voice that was sent to New Hampshire voters.

Carpenter told CNN in an interview that he was hired to create the fake audio by a political consultant working for the campaign of Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, a long-shot Democratic challenger to Biden. He provided text messages, Venmo logs and other records to support his account.

The robocall, which urged Democrats to skip voting in the New Hampshire primary, has spurred law enforcement investigations and worries about the future of AI’s impact on American politics. Carpenter said that he didn’t know how the audio would be used and was “heartbroken” that his work could have convinced people not to cast their ballots.

“I’m a magician and a hypnotist,” he said. “I’m not in the political realm – I just got thrown into this thing.”

The Phillips consultant, Steve Kramer, declined to comment Friday, and Phillips’ campaign distanced itself from Kramer, saying it had no knowledge of his alleged involvement with the robocall.

Carpenter’s claims were first reported Friday by NBC News.

The origin of the robocall – the first major effort to use AI to imitate a US president in an attempt to suppress votes – has been a much-debated mystery among political circles since it was sent to more than 20,000 people in late January. A voice…