ISLAMABAD: Artificial intelligence allowed Pakistan’s ex-prime minister Imran Khan to campaign from behind bars on Monday (Dec 18), with a voice clone of the opposition leader giving an impassioned speech on his behalf.
Khan has been locked up since August and is being tried for leaking classified documents, allegations he says have been trumped up to stop him contesting general elections due in February.
But his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party used artificial intelligence to make a four-minute message from the 71-year-old, headlining a “virtual rally” hosted on social media overnight Sunday into Monday despite internet disruptions which monitor NetBlocks said were consistent with previous attempts to censor Khan.
PTI said Khan sent a shorthand script through lawyers which was fleshed out into his rhetorical lingo.
The text was then dubbed into audio using a tool from AI firm ElevenLabs, which boasts the ability to create a “voice clone” from existing speech samples.
“My fellow Pakistanis, I would first like to praise the social media team for this historic attempt,” the voice mimicking Khan said.
“Maybe you all are wondering how I am doing in jail,” the stilted voice adds. “Today, my determination for real freedom is very strong.”
The audio was broadcast at the end of a five-hour live stream of speeches by PTI supporters on Facebook, X and YouTube, and was overlaid with historical footage of Khan and still images.
It was bookended with genuine video clips from the one-time cricket star’s former speeches according to PTI, but a caption appeared at intervals flagging it as the “AI voice of Imran Khan based on his notes”.
“This was a no-brainer for us when Imran Khan is no longer there to actually meet at a political rally,” said US-based PTI social media chief Jibran Ilyas. “It was to get over the suppression.”
PTI was the first political party in Pakistan to widely harness the potential of social media, using apps to target younger audiences who carried them to power five years ago.
“We wanted to get in election mode,” Ilyas told AFP. “No PTI political rally is complete without Imran Khan.”