Russian Scammers Used A.I. to Turn a Random Dude Into a Propaganda Spokesperson, and He Doesn’t Know Why
In the A.I. video, he warns about an upcoming Polish election. In reality, he had no idea the country was even having an election.
Published 3 months ago in Wtf
When you post a video online, you probably don’t assume that it will be used in another country’s propaganda operations, but that’s exactly what happened to a man named Aaron in the U.K.
According to BBC Verify, Aaron posted a video for work in which he detailed one of the aspects of his job. For some reason, a Russian disinformation effort then took this video and used A.I. to clone his voice and image, using it to warn people about an upcoming election in Poland.
“I didn’t even know the Polish were having an election,” he told BBC Verify. “I don’t have any ties to Poland whatsoever.”
As for why this group of Russian disinformationists chose him as a spokesperson, Aaron is just as baffled as everyone else. “Why would the Russians choose me?” he asked the BBC, exasperated.
So, if you wanted another thing to be afraid of, just know that your freshman year Spanish presentation that’s still on YouTube might someday be used in another country’s propaganda efforts. Isn’t that fun to worry about?