Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign criticized her on Saturday after billionaire Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk shared a video containing doctored or faked audio of Harris calling herself the “ultimate DEI hire.”
Musk re-shared the parody video on another X account on Friday to his more than 190 million followers with the caption “this is amazing.” The video had been viewed more than 73 million times by Saturday morning, according to X data.
“I was selected because I am the ultimate diversity hire,” a fake voice claiming to be Harris says in the video, which also describes her and Biden as “puppets” of the “deep state.”
CNN ran the fake Harris audio through its AI detection tools on Saturday and found there was “ample evidence” that the audio was generated using AI.
New attack methods: Republicans have used the term “DEI” – which stands for diversity, equity and inclusion – to attack Harris, suggesting she rose to her position as the Democratic front-runner based on her race and gender.
Critics say it amounts to a racist dog whistle, including Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost, who told CNN’s Jim Acosta this week that Republicans are using the term “DEI” as a “racist slur.”
Combating misinformation: Bipartisan concerns about AI interference in elections have led to a range of laws being passed across the country as state lawmakers seek to mitigate the impact of misinformation and prevent deepfakes from overwhelming voters.
More than a dozen Republican- and Democratic-led states have enacted bills this year to restrict the use of deepfakes — realistic, fake video, audio and other content created with AI — in election campaigns. The laws come amid warnings from the Department of Homeland Security about their potential to mislead voters.
CNN’s Piper Hudspeth Blackburn contributed to this post.
