A Democratic political consultant has been charged for his role in launching artificial intelligence-generated robocalls that imitate US President Joe Biden’s voice.
Indictment against Steven Kramer
According to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office, Steven Kramer, a New Orleans political consultant, was charged on May 23 with impersonating a candidate during the New Hampshire Democratic primary.
He reportedly used AI to generate and send thousands of robocalls to New Hampshire residents, imitating President Biden’s voice and asking people not to vote.
The spoofed calls asked people to “save their votes for the November election” and added: “Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday.”
Attorney General John Formella has filed 13 counts of voter suppression and 13 counts of deception against 54-year-old Kramer.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposed a $6 million fine against Kramer, saying the deepfake robocalls violated caller ID rules.
The telephone company that forwarded the calls, Lingo Telecom, is now facing a proposed $2 million fine from the FCC for “improperly labeling [de oproepen] with the highest level of caller ID confirmation, making it more difficult for other providers to detect the calls as potentially spoofed.”
“I hope our enforcement actions send a strong deterrent message to anyone considering disrupting elections, whether through artificial intelligence or other means,” said Attorney General Formella.
Kramer defends his actions as civil disobedience
Kramer defended his actions, according to an NBC news report in February. In it, he claimed that he planned the fake robocalls from the start as an act of civil disobedience to draw attention to the dangers of AI in politics.
“This is a way for me to make a difference, and I did,” he said in the interview at the time, adding: “For $500 I got about $5 million in action, whether that be media attention or regulatory action was.”
There are growing concerns about the potential for AI-generated content to mislead voters ahead of the 2024 elections.
The Biden campaign said it has prepared for threats such as malicious AI-generated deepfakes and has “put together an interagency team to prepare for the potential effects of AI in this election,” according to Reuters.
In February, 20 of the largest AI technology companies pledged to prevent their software from influencing elections.
Source: https://newsbit.nl/man-aangeklaagd-voor-maken-van-nep-biden-robocalls-met-ai/
