New Hampshire allows independents to vote in either the Democratic or Republican primary — and with MAGA loyalists dominating the Republican Party, any challenger to MAGA leader Donald Trump would need to expand the tent and get some of those independent votes in any realistic push for the GOP nomination.
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is the only GOP challenger left standing with the primaries a day away, and while Haley can’t — for her reputation’s sake — openly court those independent voters (or Democrats who might operate as independents to influence the GOP outcome), she still has to hope they come out for her.
One thing that presumably would be bad for Haley in this circumstance is if the President of the United States called all the New Hampshire Democrats and told them not to vote at all, since it would help Donald Trump, his chief rival.
[The deepfake delivers a relatively convincing Biden-like voice smartly employing the word “malarkey,” a favorite of Biden’s, to help proclaim its authenticity.]
That’s what happened, too, but it wasn’t really Joe Biden on the call. Instead voters received a robocall recorded message, sent by an as-yet-unidentified actor, that was a computer-generated imitation of Biden’s voice telling voters to stay home on Tuesday.
This is why many of us have been yelling about the dangers of unregulated AI for years.
— Angry Staffer 🌻 (@Angry_Staffer) January 22, 2024
This kind of convincing deepfakes used to be exclusive to state actors— now, basically anyone with an internet connection can do it. https://t.co/gsopWuynSN
The prank has been widely reported and so may not have its intended voter suppression effect, but experts are warning that it’s just a warmup for a tsunami of fakes — both realistic and ridiculous — that are about to be unleashed to further distort voters’ perceptions of reality and truth.
As hurtful as the prank might be to Haley, the call also aims at the incumbent, Biden, who isn’t on the ballot in New Hampshire because of a Democratic dustup over promoting South Carolina to the lead position in the nominating process.
The team supporting Biden’s Democratic challenger, Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips, told NBC: “Any effort to discourage voters is disgraceful and an unacceptable affront to democracy. The potential use of AI to manipulate voters is deeply disturbing.”
