(DCNF)—George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley criticized the Department of Justice (DOJ) Monday for claiming that the possibility of a “deepfake” as a result of artificial intelligence(AI) warranted blocking the release of audio of an interview with President Joe Biden.
The DOJ raised the possibility of the manipulative use of AI in a Friday court filing seeking to block release of the interview Biden had with the office of special counsel Robert Hur, according to Politico. Turley said that the Justice Department’s “illogical” argument made no sense, saying that the release of the tape would make it more difficult to produce deepfakes of the conversation.
“It is neither legally nor practically sensible to make that argument. The fact is, that if you release the audiotape, it’s going to make it easier to refute any deepfake version,” Turley told “America Reports” co-hosts Sandra Smith and John Roberts. “Right now, AI could produce that, because you have the transcript and part of the problem for the Department of Justice is their position has never made any sense.”
“You release the transcript as unprivileged, that you are claiming the audio version is privileged, as if this is sort of a Voldemortian ‘he who shall not be heard’ type of candidate,” Turley continued. “The impression is that they’re not worried about a false version of the audiotape, they are worried about the real audiotape being heard before the election. It is a transparent effort to get the court to hold the audiotape, or at least keep it in litigation, until people have voted.”