- Rep. Dean Phillips’ political consultant Steve Kramer admitted to commissioning a robocall using artificial intelligence to impersonate President Joe Biden.
- Illusionist Paul Carpenter revealed that Kramer paid him to make the deepfake
- Call told Democrats they didn’t need to vote for Biden in New Hampshire primary
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A political consultant to Rep. Dean Phillips, Joe Biden’s top competitor, admitted to being behind the fake robocall that used artificial intelligence to impersonate the president.
Steve Kramer said he commissioned the robocall using artificial intelligence (AI) to impersonate President Biden. according to a Sunday report from NBC News.
His admission comes after New Orleans illusionist and street magician Paul Carpenter claimed a Democratic political consultant paid him $150 to create a spoof of Biden’s voice for a robocall telling his supporters not to they need to vote in the New Hampshire primary.
Carpenter used artificial intelligence software to imitate Biden’s voice in the message.
A political consultant to President Joe Biden’s primary competitor Rep. Dean Phillips (pictured) has come forward to admit that he commissioned the president’s voice AI robocall to tell voters not to participate in the presidential primary. New Hampshire in January.
Steve Kramer admitted to commissioning deepfake robocall of Biden’s voice
Kramer expressed remorse to NBC News for commissioning the call and said more needs to be done to prevent this from happening in the future.
“With an investment of just $500, anyone could replicate my intentional decision,” Kramer said. “Immediate action is necessary across all regulatory bodies and platforms.”
The call initiated several investigations by law enforcement and sparked protests from oversight bodies and those directing the elections.
Rep. Phillips (D-Minn.) paid Kramer more than $250,000 when the robocall went out in January, according to campaign finance records. But Kramer did not tell NBC News whether his client ordered him to make the call.
Phillips still has a longshot in the primary against Biden, and was hoping for an upset in New Hampshire last month.
Illusionist Paul Carpenter says he was hired by Dean Phillips’ agent, Steve Kramer, in January to imitate Biden’s voice.
Explaining the robocall purchase, Kramer said, “On the night of Sunday, January 20, two days before the New Hampshire primary, I sent a robocall to the 5,000 people most likely to vote Democratic.”
“Using easy-to-use online technology, an automated version of President Joe Biden’s voice was created,” Kramer said in a statement.
Phillips has denounced the robocall and his campaign insists he had no knowledge of Kramer’s involvement. They said if they had known, they would have fired him on the spot.
