Magician Paul Carpenter claims he was paid $150 make to create a deepfake of Biden’s voice for robocall telling Democrats not to vote

A New Orleans street magician claims a Democratic consultant paid him $150 to create a deepfake of Joe Biden for a robocall telling his followers they didn’t need to vote in a primary.

Illusionist Paul Carpenter, who holds records for bending forks and removing straitjackets, says he was hired by Dean Phillips’ agent Steve Kramer in January to imitate Biden’s voice.

After receiving the Venmo payment, Carpenter used artificial intelligence software to mimic Biden’s in a message urging Democrats that they did not need to run in the New Hampshire primary.

He said NBC News It only took him 20 minutes to put together the fake audio at a cost of $1, making him a profit of $149.

“It’s so scary that it’s so easy to do,” Carpenter told the outlet. “People are not prepared for it.”

The Louisiana resident, who has no fixed address and calls himself a “digital nomad life artist,” insists he didn’t think he would be used.

I also didn’t think it was going to end in the middle of a national political scandal.

Admittedly, he had never heard of Phillips and assumed Kramer was working for the Biden campaign, as he was.

‘I was in a situation where someone offered me some money to do something and I did it.

‘There was no malicious intent. “I didn’t know how it was going to be distributed.”

The robocall sparked a federal police investigation. A Dallas business from where the calls allegedly originated is under investigation.

The research is intended to serve as an example of the operations involved in AI, amid fears that the schemes could be used in the 2024 elections.

Kramer, the man Carpenter says paid him, was hired by Democratic candidate Phillips to improve voter reach.

He has 20 years of experience and worked on Kanye West’s 2020 presidential campaign.

Kramer did not respond to NBC’s requests for comment, but said he will explain his options in an upcoming op-ed.

Phillips’ campaign insists they had nothing to do with the robocall and vowed to never work with him again.

“If it is true that Mr. Kramer was involved in creating deepfake robocalls, he did so of his own volition, which had nothing to do with our campaign,” said Phillips’ press secretary, Katie Dolan.