Pakistan’s Imran Khan delivers AI-generated speech to campaign from prison
Al Jazeera
In a first in Pakistan, jailed ex-PM’s party uses audio clip made by artificial intelligence during a virtual rally.
Islamabad, Pakistan – Jailed former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has delivered a speech using an audio clip generated through artificial intelligence (AI) to address a virtual rally – the first event of its kind in the South Asian country.
Khan delivered a four-minute address on Sunday night, using the clip, which was laid over a video containing his AI-generated image as well as photos from previous Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) rallies and earlier speeches by him.
The PTI said its virtual rally drew more than five million views on social media platforms including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter despite internet outages reported from various parts of the country.
The PTI organised the internet rally to bypass a government ban on public rallies by the party as it gears up for general elections, scheduled on February 8.
“Our party is not allowed to hold public rallies. Our people are being kidnapped and their families are being harassed,” the AI-generated voice mimicking Khan said in the clip, carrying a disclaimer that the speech is based on his notes from prison.
