Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, currently jailed, used an AI-generated audio clip to deliver a speech during a virtual rally, making a pioneering event in South Asia.
Khan spoke for four minutes on Sunday, incorporating the AI-generated audio over a video featuring his computer-generated image, along with images from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rallies and his earlier speeches.
The AI-generated voice mimicking Khan stated, “Our party is not allowed to hold public rallies. Our people are being kidnapped, and their families are being harassed.” The AI-generated further added that the speech was taken from notes written by Imran Khan in Prison.
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“History will remember your sacrifices,” the AI voice added, referencing the crackdown on PTI, which led to the arrest and resignation of numerous party leaders.
The PTI claimed that its virtual rally got more than five million views across social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, despite reported internet disruptions in different regions of the country. The party arranged this online event to sidestep a government prohibition on public rallies.
It is quite fascinating to see that AI is being widely used as a political weapon to justify narratives. In this case, the intangible nature of AI was used efficiently for a political speech to mitigate/compensate for the absence of a tangible presence of a leader. With AI growing rapidly, it is to be seen how the coming decade will harness the capabilities of AI for good and for bad.
