Political consultant who admitted deepfaking Biden’s voice is indicted

Steve
Kramer,
the
political
consultant
who admitted
to
NBC
News that
he
was
behind
a
robocall
impersonating Joe
Biden‘s
voice,
has
been
indicted
in
New
Hampshire. 

Kramer
faces
five
counts,
including bribery,
intimidation
and
suppression,
according
to WMUR-TV of
Manchester,
which
first
reported
the
indictment.
It
is
unclear
how
he
is
pleading
to
the
charges.

Kramer
could
not
immediately
be
reached,
and
his
spokesperson
declined
to
comment.

The
robocall,
which
was first
reported
by
NBC
News and
went
out
to
thousands
of
New
Hampshire
voters
in
January,
just
ahead
of
the
state’s
first-in-the-nation
presidential
primary,
used
artificial
intelligence
technology
to
deepfake
Biden,
telling
voters
to
stay
home
and
“save”
their
votes
for
the
November
general
election.

The
call
was
the
first
known
example
of
a
deepfake’s
being
used
in
national
American
politics.
It
prompted
outcry
from
officials
and
watchdogs,
propelling
the
Federal
Communications
Commission
to
put
forward
a
new
rule banning
unsolicited
AI
robocalls.

State
and
federal
law
enforcement
officials
took
the
call
seriously,
eager
to
send
a
strong
message
that
they
would
not
tolerate
misuse
of
the
new
technology,
while
advocates
say
new
rules
are
needed.

New
Hampshire
law
enforcement
officials
quickly indicted
two
out-of-state
telecom
companies that
they
said
were
involved
in
distributing
the
robocall,
but
the
creators
of
the
call
remained
unknown
until
a nomadic
street
magician
came
forward
to
NBC
News.

Paul
Carpenter,
who
holds
a
world
record
in
straitjacket
escapes
but
no
fixed
address,
said
Kramer
hired
him
to
create
the
audio
of
Biden’s
voice
used
in
the
call.
He
provided
screenshots
of
text
messages
and
Venmo
transactions
to
corroborate
his
account.

Confronted
with
the
evidence,
Kramer
admitted
that
he
commissioned
the
call,
but
he
insisted
he
did
it
only
to
prompt
stricter
regulations
of
AI
deepfakes. 

“This
is
a
way
for
me
to
make
a
difference,
and
I
have,”
he
said,
adding
that
he
was
not
worried
about
potential
legal
repercussions.
“I
can
tell
you
they’re
not
used
to
me.
I
wrestled
in
college.”

Kramer
is
a
veteran
get-out-the-vote
consultant
who
has
worked
mainly
for
Democrats,
especially
in
New
York.
At
the
time,
he
had
a
six-figure
contract
with
the
campaign
of
Rep.
Dean
Phillips,
D-Minn.,
who
was
running
a
long-shot
primary
challenge
to
Biden.

Kramer
and
the
Phillips
campaign
both
adamantly
denied
that
the
campaign
had
any
knowledge
of
the
robocall
or
directed
him
to
create
it.

Phillips
dropped
out
of
the
presidential
race
shortly
after
his
poor
performance
in
the
New
Hampshire
primary.

Deepfakes,
in
which
AI
is
used
to
impersonate
someone,
are
feared
to
become
a
larger
part
of
political
campaigns
and
society
in
general.

This
week,
actor
Scarlett
Johansson accused
Open
AI of
imitating
her
voice
without
her
authorization
as
part
of
a
new
product
launch.
The
company
denied
that,
but
it
removed
the
voice.