Elon Musk Criticized By Kamala Harris’ Campaign & Prominent Democrats For Celebrating Fake, AI-Generated Video Of Nominee

Max Goldbart
·2 min read
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Elon Musk has been criticized by the Kamala Harris campaign and prominent Democrats for celebrating a fake, AI-generated video of Harris in which she says she was “selected because I am the ultimate diversity hire.”

The X boss tweeted the video over the weekend with the remark “This is amazing” followed by a cry-laughing emoji.

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The AI-generated video, which can be watched in full below, shows the fake POTUS candidate saying, “I, Kamala Harris, am your Democratic candidate because Joe Biden finally exposed his senility in the debate,” overlaid to images of Harris and Democratic supporters.

A spokesperson for the Harris campaign told the AP: “The American people want the real freedom, opportunity and security Vice President Harris is offering; not the fake, manipulated lies of Elon Musk and Donald Trump.”

She then calls herself the “ultimate diversity hire” because “I’m both a woman and a person of color, so if you criticize anything I say you’re both sexist and racist.” The fake Harris goes on to brand herself a “deep fake puppet” who learned from another “puppet,” Joe Biden.

Musk’s seeming endorsement of the video comes with ramped up concerns over the spread of fake, AI-generated videos during the heated election campaign.

Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar suggested the vid breaks X’s synthetic and manipulated media policy.

The initial post was labeled as a parody but Musk’s repost, which has been viewed well over 100 million times, doesn’t clarify the parody label.

California Governor Gavin Newsom wrote on X that “manipulating a voice in an ‘ad’ like this one should be illegal.” He said that he would be signing a bill in a “matter of weeks” to outlaw such “deepfakes.” The Defending Democracy from Deepfake Deception Act would require large online platforms to block “materially deceptive content related to elections,” during specified periods of the campaign. The platforms also would be required to label certain content “inauthentic, fake, or false” during a specified campaign period.

In the video, the fake Harris can be heard calling herself the “ultimate diversity hire” because “I’m both a woman and a person of color, so if you criticize anything I say you’re both sexist and racist.” The fake Harris goes on to brand herself a “deep fake puppet” who learned from another “puppet,” Joe Biden.

Musk has been donating to the Trump campaign, although he has in recent days denied a Wall Street Journal report that said he plans to give $45M a month to Trump. Musk endorsed Trump on July 13, in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on his life.

Harris is the presumptive Democratic nominee after Biden dropped out the race last weekend.

— Ted Johnson contributed to this report.

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