Musk posts manipulated Kamala Harris video, raising concern about AI in politics

Elon Musk recently shared a video on X that used an artificial intelligence voice cloning tool to generate an AI version of Kamala Harris’s voice. In the video, Harris says Biden has “exposed his senility” and that she is the “ultimate diversity hire” as she’s both a woman and a person of color.

Musk shared the deep fake video without a disclaimer, which violates X’s AI content moderation rules. The video has over 131 million views since.

The attention is welcome
The parody video has people returning to X and boosting engagement on the app.

The microblogging platform is benefiting from the presidential race. Its app downloads skyrocketed 13% on the day of the Biden-Trump debate and nearly 50% after the assassination attempt on Trump’s life.

X’s political reach is significant. Even Biden made his election withdrawal announcement on the platform first.

The platform hasn’t performed well since Musk bought X in 2022. Advertisers have pulled out due to controversies surrounding the billionaire’s political views.

However, the current election cycle is helping the platform’s popularity. It looks to earn $8 million from political ads this quarter, up from the $3 million it made during the 2018 midterms, according to the New York Times.