The international media gave coverage to the former prime minister Imran Khan's party—Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf—usage of an artificial intelligence voice clone of the party chief to campaign from Adiala prison.

The PTI used AI startup elevenLabs software, a voice-generating platform that raised $19M in a venture capital funding round, famous for launching a range of popular voice-cloning and voice-generating technologies, ElevenLabs is founded by Polish national Piotr Dabkowskiand co-founded by Polish entrepreneurs and considered among top tools to clone AI voice. But the company is headquartered in London and New Tork City.

The company has worked and came up with an application for generating synthetic voices 'AI companion apps that turn chatbot responses into lifelike voices.'

The Sifted reported that synthetic voice technology could also open the doors to what Staniszewski describes as “nefarious use cases” — think deepfakes or phone scams, already famous in Asian countries like Korea or Japan. Now the software has entered Pakistani politics as well.

This has been the first experiment of using artificial intelligence audio-generation software in politics in Pakistan that could pave the way for online political gathering, a new 'battlefield' for political rivals to reach their voters as Pakistan is heading towards the most crucial elections on February 8, 2024.

Cable News Network (CNN) reported that the use of the AI audio recording is being seen as an example of how AI technology has been used by politicians who say they are battling state suppression.

The Guardian commented that Artificial intelligence allowed Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan to campaign from behind bars on Monday.

Time Magazine reported that Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party streamed a five-hour “virtual powershow” on Sunday.

The Washington Post, The Verge and Voicebot.ai reported that Khan’s social media team used archival footage from Khan’s older rallies and ElevenLab’s synthetic audio engine to clone the politician’s voice.

The video is a mix of both historical footage and stock images.

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party used AI to make an audio clip to address an internet "virtual rally”—the day Twitter, YouTube and other online platforms services went down in Pakistan.

It is pertinent to note that Islamabad Court High (IHC) had Imran Khan's three-year sentence for corruption suspended in August, but remains in jail, and on Tuesday the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

AI generated speech

The BBC said that Khan's four-minute speech was generated from text he had written from prison and had approved by his lawyers.

Founding Chairman Imran Khan's speech in AI voice. Can't stop praising Dr Asma for staying up 36 hours to get this done in time, Nausheen for translations and Intazar Bhai for getting notes from the Legend Imran Khan! #PTIVirtualJalsa pic.twitter.com/9CoDVT4sXb
— Jibran Ilyas (@agentjay2009) December 17, 2023

The audio was played over an AI-generated image which appeared to be speaking.

The voice clone of Mr Khan said: "My fellow Pakistanis, I would first like to praise the social media team for this historic attempt. Maybe you all are wondering how I am doing in jail. Today, my determination for real freedom is very strong."

"Our party is not allowed to hold public rallies," Mr Khan claimed in an AI-generated image and video.

BBC reported that the imprisoned Khan urged supporters to turn out in large numbers at the country's general elections set for 8 February.

PTI claims and realities

PTI claimed the event was viewed by six million people across YouTube, X and Facebook and party’s media adviser Zulfiqar Bukhari claimed PTI had been subject to a massive ‘crackdown’ with Khan banned from any public or political engagement, so they turned to social media.

The Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson, who routinely speaks under the title ‘most interesting thing in tech’ said the most interesting thing in tech: “Imran Khan the imprisoned former prime minister of Pakistan, uses AI voice technology to give a speech, via video conference, at a rally for his supporters. It's a crazy new use for a technology that has improved rapidly in the last year.”

Why Imran Khan was imprisoned?

The global cricket star-turned-politician was sentenced to three years in jail on 5 August for not declaring money earned from selling gifts he received during his time in office from 2018-2022. As a result of that conviction, he was barred from contesting an election for five years.