If the terrible pay, long hours and tedious press releases weren’t making life hard enough already for journalists, a new threat has emerged — AI-generated interviews.
In an apparently “exclusive interview” with former US president Donald Trump, right-wing news network Real America’s Voice seems to have been duped by a generative AI version of the Republican presidential candidate.
The 17-minute phone interview — great for TV, we’re sure you’ll agree — was broadcast in full and does not sound like Trump at all. Considering that former Fox News commentator John Solomon and co-host Amanda Head are both big Donald fans, one thinks that they should have picked up the forgery.
What do you think?
President Trump calls indictments election interference: ‘They’ve overstepped’
President @realDonaldTrump says Democrats have overstepped their bounds by targeting him with repeated indictments and lawsuits during his re-election campaign. “If I was doing badly in the polls, I… pic.twitter.com/jorCcfzTSF
— Real America’s Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) August 31, 2023
Throughout the interview, there were a number of irregularities with Trump’s speech. His voice is at a higher pitch than usual and he seemed to cut out when speaking words such as “Ukraine.”
Of course, the voice could simply be an impersonator.
When contacted by US news site The Daily Beast, Solomon said that it really was Trump on the other end of the line and that the interview had been set up with Trump’s staff and that they called a pre-arranged phone number.
Trump also posted a clip of the interview on his own Truth Social profile, which might indicate that the clip is really him talking or that he at least endorses the message.
