A New Orleans street magician claims a Democratic consultant paid him $150 to create a deepfake of Joe Biden for a robocall in which he told his supporters they didn’t have to vote during a primary.
Illusionist Paul Carpenter, who holds records for bending forks and getting out of straitjackets, says he was hired by Dean Phillips agent Steve Kramer in January to imitate Biden’s voice.
After receiving the payment on Venmo, Carpenter then used AI software to imitate Biden’s in a message urging Democrats not to show up for the New Hampshire primary.
A New Orleans street magician claims a Democratic consultant paid him $150 to create a deepfake of Joe Biden for a robocall telling supporters they didn’t have to vote during a primary
He told NBC News it took him just 20 minutes to put together the fake audio at a cost of $1, netting him a profit of $149.
“It’s so scary that it’s so easy to do,” Carpenter told the outlet. “People aren’t ready for it.”
The Louisiana resident, who has no fixed address and calls himself a “digital nomad artist of life,” insists he didn’t think it would be used.
He also didn’t believe he would find himself in the middle of a national political scandal.
Granted, he had never heard of Phillips and assumed Kramer worked for the Biden campaign like him
“I was in a situation where someone offered me money to do something, and I did it.
‘There was no malicious intent. I didn’t know how it would be divided.’
Illusionist Paul Carpenter, who holds records for bending forks and getting out of straitjackets, says he was hired by Dean Phillips agent Steve Kramer in January to imitate Biden’s voice
He told NBC News that it took him just 20 minutes to put together the fake audio at a cost of $1, netting him a profit of $149.
The robocall led to a federal law enforcement investigation. An investigation is underway to identify a Dallas company where the calls allegedly came from.
The research aims to provide an example of operations involving AI amid fears that schemes could be used in the 2024 election.
Kramer, the man who he said paid Carpenter, was employed by Democratic presidential candidate Phillips to expand voting reach.
He has twenty years of experience and worked on Kanye West’s 2020 presidential campaign.
The Louisiana resident, who has no fixed address and calls himself a ‘digital nomad artist of life’, insists he didn’t think it would be used
The Biden robocall sparked a federal law enforcement investigation. An investigation is underway to identify a Dallas company where the calls allegedly came from
Kramer did not respond to NBC’s requests for comment, but did say he will explain his options in an upcoming op-ed.
The Phillips campaign insists they had nothing to do with the robocall and has vowed never to work with him again.
“If it is true that Mr. Kramer had any involvement in creating deepfake robocalls, he did so of his own volition, which had nothing to do with our campaign,” Phillips’ press secretary Katie Dolan said.