'Diversity hire?': Elon Musk shares controversial video of Kamala Harris ahead of US elections. Watch!

Elon Musk on Saturday (Jul27) shared a manipulated video using artificial intelligence to mimic Vice President Kamala Harris's voice. The video has sparked significant concerns about the potential of AI to spread misinformation as the US presidential election approaches.

The video shared by tech billionaire Musk on his social media platform X (previously Twitter) inaccurately portrays Harris making controversial statements, blending genuine visuals from her campaign with AI-generated audio.

What does the video say?

The video shared by Musk on Friday evening did not have any disclaimer, revealing that it was originally intended as a parody.

In the altered video, Harris appears to say, "I, Kamala Harris, am your Democrat candidate for president because Joe Biden finally exposed his senility at the debate."

It also falsely suggests that Harris is a "diversity hire" — because she's a woman and a person of colour — and says she doesn't know "the first thing about running the country."

The video retains "Harris for President" branding and even incorporates real clips of Harris.

Musk and Trump's lies

In an email to the Associated Press, Mia Ehrenberg, a spokesperson for Harris's campaign, condemned the video and said: "We believe the American people want the real freedom, opportunity and security Vice President Harris is offering; not the fake, manipulated lies of Elon Musk and Donald Trump."

Concerns due to the video

The video's circulation highlights the growing issue of lifelike AI-generated content being used to mislead the public, especially as the presidential election nears.

The original creator of the video, a YouTuber known as Mr Reagan, disclosed that the video was a parody. However, Musk's post, which garnered over 123 million views, lacked this context, simply captioning it with "This is amazing" and a laughing emoji. The post did not direct viewers to the source or its disclosure.

While some users suggested adding a community note to Musk's post for clarification, no such label was added as of Sunday. This raises questions about the enforcement of X's policies, which prohibit sharing synthetic or manipulated media that may deceive people unless it is clearly marked as satire.

(With inputs from agencies)