The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has found a way to make sure Imran Khan doesn’t stay away from election rallies even when he is locked in prison. In a four-minute video, the AI-generated voice of the former Prime Minister addressed people, who not only listened carefully to the disrupted video but also appreciated him for being “unstoppable”.
While the voice completely resembles Khan’s, it also briefly includes a deep fake video of the leader sitting in front of a Pakistani flag.
The AI voice expressed gratitude to the social media team of his political party, PTI, and soon went on to talk about his well-being in jail and his aspirations for a better future for Pakistan.
“You might be wondering about my condition in jail. First, let me clear that being in jail, for me, is synonymous with worship for the true freedom of Pakistan. I am ready to sacrifice my life for my country and my people,” he said.
PTI’s social media lead Jibran Ilyas said that the content of the video is based on notes provided by Khan from prison, according to a Forbes report. The video, which as per Ilyas feels like a “65-70 per cent” match of Khan’s voice, has clocked more than 1.6 million views within 12 hours on YouTube. Khan’s followers are seen appreciating the leader’s efforts to connect with them using the latest technology. They are praising him as the first world leader to do so.
“This will be replicated by other leaders of the world, but the credit belongs to Imran Khan only,” said a user on X.
Also read: CID’s Freddy had fans in Pakistan too. They miss their ‘favourite actor from childhood’
Innovative leader
Reacting to the video, Nick Thompson, the CEO of The Atlantic complimented the innovation. Thompson explained that Khan gave some notes to his lawyers, who in turn turned them into a speech, which was later made to sound like Khan.
“It is a fascinating use case. And it’s a reminder that technology will be able to give voice to people who don’t have it, in lots of complicated and interesting ways,” Thompson noted.
Pakistani digital rights activist and lawyer Nighat Dad raised concerns about the way Khan’s AI video will be received by the voters.
“While Sunday’s video has a disclaimer about the voice being AI-generated we don’t know if the message came from Khan himself or the PTI social media team. Most voters are not able to spot disinformation and synthetic media will make things harder,” she told Forbes.
However, Pakistani citizens seemed utterly impressed. One even called PTI the “ champions of the digital world hence winning the war of narratives.”
“Despite fascism and state barbarism people of Pakistan are united under Imran Khan leadership,” another user wrote.
Khan’s deepfake video is seen as an example of how AI can be used by politicians battling alleged state suppression. While some called him “adaptive”, others called him “genius” for his innovation. “He needs to do speeches from jail! I swear people need to hear his words!” wrote a user in an Instagram post.