Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) delivered opening statements on May 22, 2024, at a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing to discuss Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the President's fiscal year 2025 State Department budget request.
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) on Monday condemned a deepfake video shared by Elon Musk impersonating Vice President Harris and said she supports regulating the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
The video, which Musk shared on social platform X on Friday, mocks the Harris campaign's election ads, which feature a voiceover that says Biden has dementia and calls Harris the “ultimate diversity hire.”
“I, Kamala Harris, am your Democratic candidate for president because Joe Biden finally showed his age in the debates,” she says in the video, imitating Harris' voice. “I was elected because I am the ultimate diversity hire. I am a woman and a person of color, so anyone who criticizes what I say is sexist and racist.”
Lee called the video “dangerous” and personally criticized Musk in an interview with CNN on Monday.
“Yeah, not only is it unpleasant, it shows how dangerous it can be. [ Musk] “How dangerous it is for social media to not have guardrails,” she said, “and as we look at AI and move forward, we need to make sure that there are regulatory guardrails and rules that AI has to follow.”
“If we don't do that, then all sorts of unfortunate events are going to happen. It's fake and it shows that no one is accountable for anything they say or do to anyone. And accountability is very important,” she continued.
“This is really very dangerous and we need to stand up and demand some accountability,” Lee said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom (Democrat) also condemned the post and said such videos should be illegal.
“It should be illegal to manipulate voices in these 'ads'.” He wrote to X“We'll sign the bill in the next few weeks and see if that gets done.”
Federal regulators have stepped up efforts to crack down on the use of deepfake technology to impersonate politicians after a man used an automated call sounding like Biden's voice in an attempt to reduce voter turnout in the New Hampshire primary earlier this year.
The Federal Communications Commission last week advanced a proposal that would require advertisers to disclose the use of AI in their TV and radio ads, and already bans the use of imitation voices in robocalls.
The Harris campaign similarly condemned Musk over the video.
“We believe that what the American people want is the real freedom, opportunity and security that Vice President Harris is providing, not the false, manipulated lies of Elon Musk and Donald Trump,” campaign spokeswoman Mia Ellenberg said in a statement to The Hill.
