Fake Biden Urges People to Stay at Home
The phone rings – and it’s the US president on the line. That’s what voters in the US state of New Hampshire experienced. The surprise was surely great, but the voice was fake. The attorney general has announced an investigation.
Shortly before the first primaries of the US Democrats in New Hampshire, there was apparently an attempt at election interference. Voters received fake calls with the impersonated voice of US President Joe Biden. They were told not to go to the polls, but to save their votes for the November elections. “If you cast your vote on this Tuesday, it only helps the Republicans reelect Donald Trump,” the alleged Biden claimed. “Your vote makes a difference in November, not on this Tuesday.”
It is untrue that voters who participate in the primary on Tuesday will no longer be allowed to vote in the November elections. The AI-generated voice was apparently indistinguishable from the real Biden. The recipients were shown the number of Kathy Sullivan, a former chairwoman of the Democratic Party in New Hampshire – this too was part of the forgery.
Attorney General Announces Investigation
The attorney general of New Hampshire has announced that he is investigating the apparent “illegal attempt to disrupt the primaries in New Hampshire and suppress voters.” It is still unclear how many people received the fake call. The Attorney General’s office has called on other affected individuals to come forward.
The identity of the perpetrators behind the calls has also not been determined yet. The campaign office of rival Trump stated that they were not involved in the fake recording.
AI Used for Election Manipulation
The tech industry had already warned that artificial intelligence could be abused to manipulate elections. Just recently, according to the Washington Post, the operator of ChatGPT banned the developer of a bot that imitated Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips.
Observers speculate about the intended purpose of the calls. It may not have been about actually preventing Democratic voters from casting their votes, but rather about undermining trust in institutions, said election law expert David Becker, Executive Director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research.