Tim Harford (Magazine, January 27) speculated that had deepfake technology existed in 2016 Donald Trump could have used it as an excuse to deny that it was his voice on the Access Hollywood tape, in which he boasted of sexually assaulting women. In fact, Trump did indeed suggest that the tape was not authentic, telling a senator in 2017 that he was “looking into hiring people to ascertain whether or not it was his voice”, according to a New York Times reporter.
This is a similar tactic to Prince Andrew, who famously told BBC’s Newsnight that he had asked people to investigate the authenticity of a photograph of him posing with Virginia Giuffre, one of the alleged victims of the sex trafficking ring of Jeffrey Epstein. In both cases, doubt has been cast on authentic artefacts, in an attempt to sow confusion, even without the involvement of AI deepfakes.
Matthew Hunt
Bangkok, Thailand
