{"id":15492,"date":"2024-02-13T12:48:17","date_gmt":"2024-02-13T12:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/13\/ai-resurrects-long-dead-dictator-in-murky-new-era-of-deepfake-electioneering\/"},"modified":"2024-02-13T12:48:17","modified_gmt":"2024-02-13T12:48:17","slug":"ai-resurrects-long-dead-dictator-in-murky-new-era-of-deepfake-electioneering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/13\/ai-resurrects-long-dead-dictator-in-murky-new-era-of-deepfake-electioneering\/","title":{"rendered":"AI \u2018resurrects\u2019 long dead dictator in murky new era of deepfake electioneering"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A once-feared army general, who ruled Indonesia with an iron fist for more than three decades, has a message for voters ahead of upcoming elections \u2013 from beyond the grave. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am Suharto, the second president of Indonesia,\u201d the former general says in a three-minute video that has racked up more than 4.7 million views on X and spread to TikTok, Facebook and YouTube. <\/p>\n

While mildly convincing at first, it\u2019s clear that the stern-looking man in the video isn\u2019t the former Indonesian president.\u00a0The real Suharto, dubbed the \u201cSmiling General\u201d because he was always seen smiling despite his ruthless leadership style, died in 2008 at age 86. <\/p>\n

The video was an AI-generated deepfake, created using tools that cloned Suharto\u2019s face and voice. \u201cThe video was made to remind us how important our votes are in the upcoming election,\u201d said Erwin Aksa, deputy chairman of Golkar \u2013 one of Indonesia\u2019s largest and oldest political parties. He first shared the video on X ahead of February 14 elections. <\/p>\n

The party is one of 18 competing in this year\u2019s race, which will see more than 200 million voters head to the polls. Golkar is not fielding its own presidential candidate but has thrown its support behind frontrunner Prabowo Subianto, a former army general under Suharto\u2019s military-backed regime \u2013 and also his former son-in-law. <\/p>\n

By bringing a long dead leader back to life just weeks before the vote, Golkar\u2019s intentions were clear: to encourage voters to throw their weight behind the party\u00a0synonymous with Suharto. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs a member of Golkar, I am very proud of Suharto because he successfully developed Indonesia,\u201d Aksa wrote on X. \u201cHe brought a lot of success. We must respect it and remember his services \u2013 Golkar was there.\u201d <\/p>\n

But online critics decried the act of using a dead man\u2019s face and voice, especially for political propaganda. \u201cThis is the state of our country today \u2013 bringing dead dictators back to life to fool and scare us into votes,\u201d wrote one Indonesian on X. <\/p>\n

\u201cSince when did it become ethical to create deepfakes out of dead people? It feels so morally wrong,\u201d said another. <\/p>\n

Voting in the era of deepfakes<\/h2>\n

The online world plays a huge role in Indonesian politics. In a country with one of the world\u2019s highest internet usage rates, almost all political parties and politicians maintain strong presences on social media to amass followers and clout. <\/p>\n

\u201cDeepfakes can greatly influence an election \u2013 the way campaigning is done, as well as the results,\u201d said Golda Benjamin, Asia Pacific campaign manager at Access Now, a US digital rights non-profit. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe danger lies in how fast it spreads. A deepfake can easily reach millions in seconds, swaying and manipulating (millions of) voters.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Golkar-produced Suharto video was just one of dozens featured in official party campaigns, they said. <\/p>\n

Following public criticism, the campaign team of three-time presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto, also Indonesia\u2019s current defense minister, admitted to using AI software to give their chief a cuddly animated makeover on TikTok to appeal to young voters. Indonesians aged 40 and younger \u2013 who number around 114 million voters \u2013 make up the majority of votes. <\/p>\n

In another video that attracted intense criticism, AI-generated children were used by the party in a TV commercial to skirt rules banning children from appearing in political campaigns. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe technology used is so advanced \u2026 We can understand if some people mistook (the children) as real characters,\u201d Budisatrio Djiwandono, Prabowo\u2019s nephew and spokesperson for his nationalist right-wing Gerindra Party, said in a statement after the advertisement was called out by watchdog groups. <\/p>\n

The third presidential candidate, former Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan, whose campaign makes use of an OpenAI-powered chatbot that answers questions about his policies on WhatsApp, has <\/strong>cautioned against the use of AI in the election after he became the victim of an audio deepfake in January. A doctored conversation of Anies, purportedly being chastised by a political backer, made rounds online. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to be critical because now there is AI technology which can generate audio or visuals that can appear real,\u201d Anies told a campaign rally later that month. <\/p>\n

TAPP (Tim Advokasi Peduli Pemilu), a Jakarta-based nonprofit, said that videos like the Suharto deepfake showed AI\u2019s potential for voter manipulation. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe government is still not aware of the dangers of deepfakes,\u201d said spokesperson Gugum Ridho Putra. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe know what AI is capable of and this is only the beginning,\u201d he adds. \u201cWe are concerned about voters being manipulated, especially so close to the election.\u201d <\/p>\n

The \u2018ghost\u2019 of Suharto<\/h2>\n

Suharto\u2019s 32-year dictatorship is considered by international rights organizations to be one of the most corrupt and brutal periods in Indonesia\u2019s history. <\/p>\n

Thousands were jailed or killed during his rule as he cracked down on critics and political opponents, and enforced his regime\u2019s rule over East Timor, Aceh, West Papua and the Maluku islands. <\/p>\n

Discussion of his rule remains largely taboo in Indonesia and opinions about his legacy are mixed. <\/p>\n

But in places like Kemusuk, a village near Yogyakarta where he was born, his image is everywhere \u2013 from museum memorabilia celebrating his life to the souvenir T-shirts with his smiling face. Now <\/strong>he has found renewed fame online. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe video\u2019s virality speaks to his legacy and shows how relevant he is in Indonesia today,\u201d said Soe Tjen Marching, an Indonesian author-composer and academic at SOAS University of London. \u201cHe has been dead for many years but still has many supporters,\u201d she added. \u201cHis ghost still lingers.\u201d <\/p>\n

But for those like retired officer Anton Pratama, 55, who grew up during the Suharto years, the dictator\u2019s reappearance \u201cwas disarming.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A once-feared army general, who ruled Indonesia with an iron fist for more than three decades, has a message for voters ahead of upcoming elections \u2013 from beyond the grave. \u201cI am Suharto, the second president of Indonesia,\u201d the former general says in a three-minute video that has racked up more than 4.7 million views <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":15493,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15492","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}