PTI party uses ‘voice clone’ of imprisoned opposition leader to give impassioned speech in ‘virtual rally’
Artificial intelligence allowed Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan to campaign from behind bars on Monday, with a voice clone of the opposition leader giving an impassioned speech on his behalf.
Khan has been locked up since August and is being tried for leaking classified documents, allegations he says have been trumped up to stop him contesting general elections due in February.
His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party used artificial intelligence to make a four-minute message from the 71-year-old, headlining a “virtual rally” hosted on social media overnight on Sunday into Monday despite internet disruptions that monitor NetBlocks said were consistent with previous attempts to censor Khan.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Artificial intelligence allowed Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan to campaign from behind bars on Monday, with a voice clone of the opposition leader giving an impassioned speech on his behalf.
His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party used artificial intelligence to make a four-minute message from the 71-year-old, headlining a “virtual rally” hosted on social media overnight on Sunday into Monday despite internet disruptions that monitor NetBlocks said were consistent with previous attempts to censor Khan.
It was bookended with genuine video clips from the onetime cricket star’s former speeches, according to PTI, but a caption appeared at intervals flagging it as the “AI voice of Imran Khan based on his notes”.
The PTI was the first political party in Pakistan to widely harness the potential of social media, using apps to target younger audiences who carried them to power five years ago.
NetBlocks said social media was restricted for seven hours starting late on Sunday in an incident “consistent with previous instances of internet censorship” targeting Khan.
In the aftermath, he led an unprecedented campaign of defiance, accusing top brass of conspiring with the US to eject him and saying senior officers plotted an assassination attempt that left him wounded.
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