Pakistan ex-PM Khan uses AI voice clone to campaign from jail

Artificial intelligence allowed Pakistan's ex-prime minister Imran Khan to campaign from behind bars on Monday (Dec 18), with a voice clone of the opposition leader giving an impassioned speech on his behalf.

Artificial intelligence allowed Pakistan's ex-prime minister Imran Khan to campaign from behind bars on Monday (Dec 18), with a voice clone of the opposition leader giving an impassioned speech on his behalf.

Khan has been locked up since August and is being tried for leaking classified documents, allegations he says have been trumped up to stop him contesting general elections due in February.

But his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party used artificial intelligence to make a four-minute message from the 71-year-old, headlining a "virtual rally" hosted on social media overnight Sunday into Monday despite internet disruptions which monitor NetBlocks said were consistent with previous attempts to censor Khan.

PTI said Khan sent a shorthand script through lawyers which was fleshed out into his rhetorical lingo.

The text was then dubbed into audio using a tool from AI firm ElevenLabs, which boasts the ability to create a "voice clone" from existing speech samples.