‘A.I. Obama’ and Fake Newscasters: How A.I. Audio Is Swarming TikTok

In a slickly produced TikTok video, former President Barack Obama — or a voice eerily like his — can be heard defending himself against an explosive new conspiracy theory about the sudden death of his former chef.

“While I cannot comprehend the basis of the allegations made against me,” the voice says, “I urge everyone to remember the importance of unity, understanding and not rushing to judgments.”

In fact, the voice did not belong to the former president. It was a convincing fake, generated by artificial intelligence using sophisticated new tools that can clone real voices to create A.I. puppets with a few clicks of a mouse.

The technology used to create A.I. voices has gained traction and wide acclaim since companies like ElevenLabs released a slate of new tools late last year. Since then, audio fakes have rapidly become a new weapon on the online misinformation battlefield, threatening to turbocharge political disinformation ahead of the 2024 election by giving creators a way to put their conspiracy theories into the mouths of celebrities, newscasters and politicians.