A Democratic operative who paid a magician to fake a Joe Biden robocall telling voters they did not need to vote in the primary has no regrets but did call for action to prevent others from doing what he did in the future.
Steve Kramer, who consulted for long-shot Democratic presidential hopeful Dean Phillips campaign, gave a non-apology statement and interview to NBC News.
‘The evening of Sunday, January 20th, 2 days before the New Hampshire primary, I sent out an automated call to 5,000 most likely to vote Democrats. Using easy to use online technology, an automated version of President Joe Biden’s voice was created,’ Kramer said in the statement.
Kramer used the statement to call for more enforcement to prevent others from doing what he did, but he did not apologize.
‘With a mere $500 investment, anyone could replicate my intentional call,’ he stated. ‘Immediate action is needed across all regulatory bodies and platforms.’
In a separate interview with NBC on Sunday, Kramer claimed he planned the fake robocall as an act of civil disobedience to call attention to the dangers of AI and compared himself to American Revolutionary heroes Paul Revere and Thomas Paine.
New Orleans street magician Paul Carpenter said he was paid $150 by a Democratic consultant to create a deepfake of President Biden for a robocall telling his supporters they didn’t need to show up and vote in the Democratic New Hampshire primary
This comes after New Orleans street magician Paul Carpenter said he was hired by Kramer to imitate Biden’s voice. After receiving a $150 Venmo payment, Carpenter used AI software to imitate Biden’s voice in a message urging Democrats they didn’t need to turn up for the New Hampshire primary.
Carpenter told NBC News it only took him 20 minutes to put together the fake audio at a cost of $1, netting him a profit of $149.
‘It’s so scary that it’s this easy to do,’ Carpenter told the outlet. ‘People aren’t ready for it.’
Carpenter insisted he did not think it was going to be used and he didn’t believe he was going to end up in the middle of a national political scandal. He admitted he had never heard of Phillips and assumed Kramer was working for the Biden campaign.
‘I was in a situation where someone offered me some money to do something, and I did it,’ he said. ‘There was no malicious intent. I didn’t know how it was going to be distributed.’
Illusionist Paul Carpenter, who holds records in fork bending and getting out of straight jackets, says he was hired by Dean Phillips operative Steve Kramer in January to imitate Biden’s voice
He told NBC News it only took him 20 minutes to put together the fake audio at a cost of $1, netting him a profit of $149
Longshot Democratic presidential hopeful Dean Phillips posted that he was ‘glad’ the consultant hired by his campaign ‘fessed-up.’ He previously said he was ‘disgusted’ an operative would pay for a fake robocall in response to the initial report
The robocall sparked an investigation which is looking into two Texas companies where the calls allegedly originated and were transmitted from.
The probe is intended to make an example of operations involved in A.I., amid fears schemes could be used in the 2024 election.
Earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission banned the use AI-generated voices in robocalls.
In the interview with NBC, Kramer said he was ‘ not afraid to testify’ and said ‘I know why I did everything.’
He also said he received a subpoena from the FCC and suspects he could even face jail time.
The Louisiana resident, who doesn’t have a fixed address and calls himself a ‘digital nomad artist of life’, insists he didn’t think it was going to be used
The Biden robocall sparked a federal law enforcement investigation. A Dallas company where the calls allegedly originated from is being investigated
Kramer was a paid consultant for the Phillips campaign hired to help improve voter outreach.
Phillips responded to the report of the fake robocall with a post on X saying he was ‘disgusted’ that a consultant hired by his campaign is ‘alleged to have faked a robocall impersonating Joe Biden.’ He called such behavior ‘despicable.’
In response to Kramer’s statement, Phillips posted on X, ‘Glad he fessed-up.’
‘America should already have AI guardrails in place to prevent its nefarious use. The next generation of executive leadership must better anticipate and prepare for the future,’ Phillips continued.