WASHINGTON — Releasing audio recordings of the special counsel's interview with President Joe Biden could encourage the spread of deepfakes and disinformation to deceive Americans, the Justice Department said, acknowledging the government failed to stop the misuse of artificial intelligence ahead of this year's election.
Senior Justice Department officials expressed those concerns in a court filing Friday seeking to justify keeping the recordings secret. The Biden administration is trying to persuade a judge to block the release of audio recordings of the president's interviews that focus on his handling of classified documents.
The admission highlights the impact of AI-driven disinformation on voting and the limits of the federal government's ability to combat it.
Conservative groups suing to force the release of the recordings called the argument “misleading.”
Mike Howell of the Heritage Foundation accused the Justice Department of trying to protect Biden from embarrassment, saying the interview transcripts showed the president struggling to remember specific dates and muddled details while at other times having a deep memory for information.
“They don't want this audio to be released at all,” said Howell, executive director of the group's Oversight Project. “They've tried every possible avenue, and it's very upsetting that they don't have any solid legal basis to back this up.”
The Justice Department declined to comment Monday beyond the filing.
Biden last month asserted executive privilege to block the release of an audio recording of his two-day interview with special counsel Robert Hur in October. The Justice Department has argued that witnesses would be less likely to cooperate if they knew the contents of the interviews might be made public. It also said Republican attempts to force the release of the audio could make it harder to protect classified law enforcement files.
Garland told lawmakers at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday that he was “not intimidated” by Republicans seeking to hold him in contempt for blocking access to the recordings.
“I view contempt as a serious matter,” Garland said, “but I am not going to jeopardize the ability of prosecutors and investigators to do their jobs effectively in any future investigation.”
Sen. Mark Warner, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told The Associated Press he was concerned the audio could be manipulated by bad actors using AI, but he said the audio should still be made public.
“The audio needs to be made public,” Warner said, but that would require “an element of watermarking so that if it's been altered, journalists and others can sue for wrongdoing.”
In a lengthy report, Hur concluded that criminal charges were unjustified over his handling of classified documents. The report said the 81-year-old Democrat's memory is “vague,” “poor” and “significantly limited.” It noted Biden was unable to recall important events, including the death of his son Beau and his time as vice president.
Biden aides have long been defensive about the president's age, which has drawn relentless attacks from presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump and other Republicans. Trump is 77.
The Justice Department's concerns about deepfakes were revealed in court documents filed in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by a coalition of media and other groups, including the Heritage Foundation in Washington and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics.
Lawyers for a media coalition that includes The Associated Press said Monday that the public has a right to listen to the recording and determine whether the special counsel “accurately described” Biden's interview.
“The government is subverting the Freedom of Information Act by telling the courts that the public cannot rely on that information,” attorney Chuck Tobin said in an email.
Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer acknowledged that a “bad actor” could easily use unrelated audio recordings of Heo and Biden to create a fake version of the interview.
But he argued that releasing the actual audio would make it harder for the public to distinguish deepfakes from the real thing.
“If the audio recordings were made public, the public would know they are available, allowing bad actors to create audio deepfakes and program a fake voice of President Biden to say whatever the deepfake creator wants,” Weinsheimer wrote.
Experts who identify manipulative AI content said the Justice Department has legitimate concerns about trying to limit the dangers of AI, but that its claims could have far-reaching implications.
“This strategy would make it harder to publish any kind of content, even if it's original,” said Alon Yamin, co-founder of Copyleaks, an AI content detection service that focuses primarily on text and code.
Nikel Sass, deputy chief counsel at the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics Association in Washington, said he hasn't seen the government raise concerns about AI in litigation over access to government records, and he worries such discussions will become more common.
“The way the Department of Justice works, this brief has to be reviewed by multiple levels of lawyers,” Sasse said. “The fact that they included it in the brief means that the Department supports this as a legal argument, and we can expect to see this argument in future cases.”
—-
The Associated Press receives financial support from the Omidyar Network to support coverage of artificial intelligence and its impact on society. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For AP's charity engagement criteria, a list of supporters and areas of coverage funded, visit AP.org.
