Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin had the possibilities of artificial intelligence (AI) demonstrated using a fake speech by Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The state news agency Ria published a short video on Thursday of the Kremlin boss watching the alleged appearance of the SPD politician in Moscow – a so-called deepfake.
However, the politician in the deepfake did not speak like a “Scholzomat” – as Scholz was called because of his speech bubble-like speeches. Instead, the programmers put a clip from the popular Russian action film “Brother 2” in Scholz’s mouth.
First, the supposed chancellor speaks a few anti-American words. Then they have him say: “We wanted to give up Russian gas. But to put it in the words of a Russian classic: We wanted the best, but it turned out as always.” This dictum comes from the former Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin (1938-2010).
It’s a fake, but Scholz says the right things, Putin commented on the fake video. The speech was rich in content and profound. Since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine nine months ago, Germany has been trying to free itself from its dependence on Russian natural gas.
Several politicians in Europe have already fallen for deepfake videos in which callers impersonated Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko, including Berlin Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD). Behind it was a Russian comedy duo. After a rocket hit eastern Poland, the two of them pretended to be French President Emmanuel Macron to President Andrzej Duda on the phone. Duda inadvertently made some explosive details of the reaction to the rocket impact in eastern Poland public.
