Steve Kramer, political consultant Accepted to NBC News that behind him a A robocall that imitates Joe Biden’s voiceCharged in New Hampshire.
According to Manchester TV, Kramer faces five charges including bribery, intimidation and coercion. WMURThe first to announce the indictment. It is not clear how he took the charges.
Kramer could not immediately be reached and his spokesman declined to comment.
A robocall to thousands of New Hampshire voters in January, ahead of the state’s first presidential election in the nation, used artificial intelligence technology to tell voters to stay home and “save” their votes, deeply spoofing the president. for the general election in November.
The call was the first known example of deep fraud used in national American politics. That sparked an outcry from officials and watchdogs and prompted the Federal Communications Commission to propose a new rule. bans unwanted AI robocalls.
Law enforcement agencies in New Hampshire and federally took the call seriously, eager to send a strong message that they will not tolerate misuse of the new technology, while advocates say new regulations are needed.
New Hampshire law enforcement agencies quickly accused Two out-of-state telecommunications companies are said to be involved in spreading the robocall, but the originators of the call remain unknown. a nomadic street magician came to NBC News.
Paul Carpenter, who holds the world record for straitjacket escapes but has no fixed address, said he was hired by Kramer to create the voice of Biden, providing screenshots of text messages and Venmo transactions to confirm his account.
Confronted with the evidence, Kramer admitted ordering the call, but he insisted he did so only to demand tougher rules on AI deep fraud.
“It’s a way for me to make a difference, and I have,” he said, adding that he’s not worried about potential legal ramifications. “I can tell you that they are not used to me. I wrestled in college.”
Kramer is a veteran polling consultant who has worked primarily for Democrats in New York. At the time, he was the longtime primary challenger to Biden, D-Minn. Dean had signed a six-figure contract with Phillips’ campaign.
Kramer and the Phillips campaign have both vehemently denied that either campaign had any knowledge of the robocall or was directed to create one.
Phillips dropped out of the presidential race shortly after his poor performance in the New Hampshire primary.
There are fears that Deepfakes, where artificial intelligence is used to impersonate someone, will become a bigger part of political campaigns and society in general.
This week actress Scarlett Johansson Open AI to blame imitating his voice without his permission as part of a new product promotion. The company denied this, but released the audio.