OTTAWA – “Prime Minister, nice to finally meet you. I’m glad you’re on the podcast.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seemingly sat down with American podcaster Joe Rogan to discuss blackface and the Freedom Convoy, among other things — except that the conversation never happened and was entirely created by artificial intelligence (AI).
The fictional dialogue was produced using technology by ElevenLabs, a U.K.-based AI voice technology startup, which launched a new platform last month to let users narrate content with a model for speech synthesis that “realistically renders human intonation and inflections.”
The “deep fake” between Trudeau and Rogan had been viewed more than 135,000 times on YouTube as of midday Wednesday, with most of the users commenting under the video recognizing that it was not a real conversation, but some others were left a bit confused.
“There’s no way this is Trudeau, because he never answers a question,” wrote user Marc Testani.
Others thanked Joe Rogan for giving them a good laugh and said it was his “best podcast yet.”
The video itself shows only pictures of Trudeau and Rogan but their voices – although entirely artificially created – could easily be mistaken for the real ones. It raises concerns once again of how AI and “deep fake” videos are amplifying the spread of disinformation online.
For instance, at one point in the conversation, Rogan’s AI-generated voice asks the fake Trudeau if he regrets how he handled the Freedom Convoy protests last year,
to which the fake Trudeau says that he would have wanted to use nuclear weapons in Ottawa to end them.
“Nuke the capital? Are you out of your f–cking mind? What do you think that would do to the rest of the planet to mankind?” asked the fake Rogan.
“Well, actually, we prefer the term humankind,” answered the fake Trudeau, referencing the time in 2018 when the real Prime Minister corrected a woman who had used the term “mankind” by telling her to use the more politically correct term “peoplekind” during a town hall.
At another point, the fake Rogan refers to the conspiracy theory that Trudeau may be the illegitimate son of former Cuban president, Fidel Castro – something the real Joe Rogan has
alluded to in his podcast last year but has been widely debunked as untrue.
Hany Farid, professor at the school of information at the University of California, Berkeley, said people have been struggling since the early days of the internet with unreliable information, echo chambers and conspiracy theories, but “deep fakes” are like throwing “jet fuel on a dumpster fire.”
“As we enter a world where anything can be manipulated, then nothing has to be real. This so-called liar’s dividend means that anyone can deny reality by simply claiming ‘deep fake,'” he said.
Farid pointed to a video circulating last year of Jonathan Denis, Alberta’s former justice minister, in which it appeared Denis was performing a caricature of an Indigenous person. Denis first apologized unreservedly, then
claimed that the video was fake.
It is also not the first time that anonymous users have created “deep fake” videos about the host of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Spotify’s most streamed podcast worldwide.
Recently, an advertisement shared on TikTok appeared to show Rogan promoting a libido supplement for men, but the video was ultimately taken down. Other “deep fakes” include humorous or nonsensical conversations with former podcast guests like Jordan Peterson.
Hany Farid, professor at the school of information at the University of California, Berkeley, said “deep fakes” have already been weaponized to create non-consensual sexual imagery, committing fraud or spreading disinformation and will continue to do so.
“Generative AI continues its ballistic trajectory in its ability to create increasingly more realistic sounds, images, and videos. In addition, these tools are becoming easier to use by nearly everyone,” he said.
ElevenLabs recognized a few days after the launch of its new platform for voice-generated content that some anonymous users had used their technology for “malicious purposes” and decided to add additional verifications to better monitor any misuse of their technology.
Farid said the creation of these fake videos can be a “larger threat to the online information ecosystem” in the long term.
The Prime Minister’s office said they would not be commenting on the “deep fake” video with Rogan becoming viral.
He's come a long way, but hasn't lost what made him good to begin with. He's made TV obsolete within a decade. Look at the media landscape now, podcasts and long-form discussions is exactly what the world audience has been craving. Here's hoping he eventually gets Rich Dolan on the show; he's had Jacques Vallee and Travis Walton on, so I think he's ready for it.
