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Elon Musk Tells Governor Newsom to ‘Suggon Deeznutz’ Over AI Voice Ad Ban Threat

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James Morales
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Key Takeaways

  • California Governor Gavin Newsom was drawn into a social media spat with Elon Musk on Monday.
  • After Musk posted a deepfake video of Kamala Harris, Newsom said he would ban AI-manipulated voice ads.
  • Responding the the threat, Musk told Newsom to ‘Suggon Deeznutz’.

Elon Musk didn’t wait long after Joe Biden stepped aside to make way for Kamala Harris before reinstigating his tirade against Democratic politicians. 

Posting a fake campaign video with an AI voiceover attacking Harris on X, Musk provoked the ire of California Governor Gavin Newsom, who threatened to crack down on AI-generated political ads. But Musk didn’t seem to take the threat too seriously.

Elon Musk Shares Fake Harris Campaign

In the video that sparked the controversy, an AI-generated voice emulating Kamala Harris echoes familiar Republican criticisms of the presumed Democratic nominee.

Referring to Harris as “the ultimate diversity hire” and a “deep state puppet” the post is hardly original. But according to some critics, it could be dangerous.

Calling Musk out on X  Newsom stated that “manipulating a voice in an ‘ad’ like this one should be illegal. I’ll be signing a bill in a matter of weeks to make sure it is.”

 

Firing back at the threat, Musk said: “I checked with renowned world authority, Professor Suggon Deeznutz, and he said parody is legal in America.”

Satire or Disinformation?

The controversy over Musk’s post centers on an important distinction: where the line between satire and disinformation is.

While X’s manipulated media policy  prohibits AI deepfakes intended to confuse or decieve, it provides an explicit exemption for memes or satire, “provided these do not cause significant confusion about the authenticity of the media.”

Of course, appropriate labeling of AI-generated content would avoid the problem of distinguishing what is and isn’t parody. However, X’s approach to deepfake labeling remains significantly less expansive than the one pursued by its social media rival Meta.

Deepfake Labeling on X

Whereas Meta is building systems that automatically tag all AI-generated video, audio, and images as such, X has fallen behind on this front.

https://twitter.com/the_transit_guy/status/1816975547366334630

In part, the platform’s Community Notes system was designed to flag obviously deceptive posts. 

But plenty of manipulated media falls through the net. This includes Musk’s latest post, which isn’t labeled as being generated by AI and, unlike the one shared by the original creato r of the video, doesn’t explicitly identify it as a parody.

In the end, most viewers would presumably identify the fake campaign ad as satirical. But Newsom’s intervention stems from a concern that some might not.

Without the right context, social media misunderstandings and distorted meanings are rife.  As an MIT report  on the intersection of deepfakes and satire recently observed, “online, not everyone is in on the joke”.

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James Morales

Although his background is in crypto and FinTech news, these days, James likes to roam across CCN’s editorial breadth, focusing mostly on digital technology. Having always been fascinated by the latest innovations, he uses his platform as a journalist to explore how new technologies work, why they matter and how they might shape our future.
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