The phone rings – and the US President is on the line. This is what happened to voters in the US state of New Hampshire. The surprise was certainly great, but the voice was fake. The Attorney General has announced an investigation.
Shortly before the first US Democratic primaries in New Hampshire, there was apparently an attempt to influence the election. Voters received fake calls with the imitated voice of US President Joe Biden. They should not go to the polls but save their vote for the November elections. “If you cast your vote this Tuesday, it will only help Republicans re-elect Donald Trump,” the alleged Biden claimed. “Your vote will make a difference in November, not this Tuesday.”
It is untrue that voters who vote in Tuesday's primary will not be allowed to vote in the November election. The AI voice was probably acoustically indistinguishable from the real Biden. The recipients were given the number of Kathy Sullivan, a former chairwoman of the Democratic Party in New Hampshire, as the caller – this was also part of the fake.
Attorney General announces investigation
New Hampshire's attorney general has announced he is investigating what appears to be an “unlawful attempt to disrupt New Hampshire's primary election and voter suppression.” It is still unclear how many people received the wrong call. The Attorney General's Office urged others affected to come forward.
It has not yet been determined who is behind the calls. Trump's campaign office said they were not involved in the fake audio recording.
Use of artificial intelligence for Election manipulation
The tech industry had already warned that artificial intelligence could be misused to manipulate elections. According to the Washington Post, the ChatGPT operator OpenAI has just blocked the developer of a bot that imitates Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips.
Observers are puzzled about what the intended purpose of the calls might have been. It may not have been about actually stopping Democratic voters from voting, but rather about destroying trust in institutions, said election law expert David Becker, head of the Center for Election Innovation and Research.
