A prominent New Hampshire Democrat wants the makers of a robocall mimicking the voice of Joe Biden and encouraging Democrats not to vote in the primary on Tuesday “prosecuted to the fullest extent” for attempting “an attack on democracy” itself.
Related: OpenAI bans bot impersonating US presidential candidate Dean Phillips
“I want them to be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible because this is an attack on democracy,” Kathy Sullivan, a former state party chair, told NBC News, adding that as an attorney, she believes the call could break several laws.
“I’m not going to let it go. I want to know who’s paying for it? Who knew about it? Who benefits?”
NBC released a recording of the call.
“What a bunch of malarkey,” it began, using a term so-characteristic of the 81-year-old president it has been widely used in merchandising and meme-making.
“You know the value of voting Democratic,” the voice said. “Our votes count. It’s important that you save your vote for the November election. We’ll need your help in electing Democrats up and down the ticket.
“Voting this Tuesday only enables the Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again. Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday. If you would like to be removed from future calls, please press two now.”
Sullivan’s phone number was included.
Biden’s name will not be on the Democratic ballot on Tuesday, because the state went against an official reorganisation of the primary calendar which placed South Carolina first.
Sullivan leads Granite for America, a Super Pac evoking New Hampshire’s “Granite State” nickname and urging Democrats to back Biden as a write-in candidate.
Sullivan told NBC she had received calls citing the supposed message from Biden, including one from a woman who said the president had called her.
Whoever made the robocall “obviously … wants to hurt Joe Biden”, Sullivan said.
A spokesperson for Dean Phillips, the Minnesota congressman mounting an outsider bid for the Democratic nomination, told NBC: “Any effort to discourage voters is disgraceful and an unacceptable affront to democracy. The potential use of AI to manipulate voters is deeply disturbing.”
On Saturday, OpenAI, the maker of the ChatGPT artificial intelligence tool, told the Washington Post it had banned the maker of a bot that mimicked Phillips and was commissioned by a super pac supporting him.
“We recently removed a developer account that was knowingly violating our API usage policies which disallow political campaigning, or impersonating an individual without consent,” OpenAI said.
The Biden campaign did not comment on the New Hampshire call. A Trump campaign spokesperson told NBC: “Not us, we have nothing to do with it.”
Evan Massoud is a political analyst with a knack for dissecting policy and governance. He provides readers with informed perspectives on political developments at home and abroad. Evan’s dedication to civic engagement extends to volunteering in local politics.
