The Democratic political consultant who acknowledged to employing a deepfake of President Biden’s voice in a New Hampshire primary robocall earlier this year was indicted on Wednesday.
Steve Kramer, who claimed that he developed the robocall to caution against the hazards of artificial intelligence (AI), was indicted on charges of bribery, intimidation, and suppression, according to WMUR, which initially reported the charges.
The call was the initial instance of deepfake technology being employed in U.S. politics, setting off a tidal surge of calls for the regulation of AI in elections.
The phony Biden voice on the call urged thousands of New Hampshire primary voters to remain at home and “save” their ballots.
The consultant previously worked for Rep. Dean Phillips’s (D-Minn.) long-shot presidential campaign, which was suspended in March.
He stated that Phillips’s team was not aware of or connected to his robocall effort. Additionally, he advocated for the regulation of the technology.
The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) announced on Wednesday that it will contemplate mandating that political advertisers disclose the use of AI on television and radio.
Following Kramer’s endeavors in New Hampshire, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) prohibited the utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) in robocalls earlier this year.
With the 2024 election, AI-generated political advertisements have already entered the market.
The Republican National Committee published an advertisement last year that was entirely AI-generated and was intended to depict a dystopian future under a second Biden term.
It utilized photographs that were both genuine and fake, depicting armored military patrols in the streets, boarded-up storefronts, and waves of immigrants that caused panic.
Recent AI-generated videos in India’s elections exemplify a trend that tech experts believe is emerging in democratic elections worldwide. These videos misrepresent Bollywood actors as criticizing the prime minister.
[READ MORE: Fani Willis, Prosecutor Pursuing Trump in Georgia Wins Her Democratic Primary]
