Indonesians misled by AI-generated video of presidential hopeful speaking Arabic
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on November 14, 2023 at 09:34
- Updated on February 7, 2024 at 16:28
- 4 min read
- By AFP Indonesia
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"What's missing? English, OK. Arabic, also OK. This is the time to have an intellectual and polite leader," reads text in Indonesian superimposed on the video, which was posted to TikTok on November 6, 2023.
The 18-second clip -- which shows Anies at a podium, apparently addressing an audience in Arabic confidently and fluently -- has racked up more than 2.6 million views.
In the clip, Anies outlines the key goals of the Nasdem Party, which backs his presidential bid (archived link).
The TikTok post signs off with "AMIN for Indonesia", using an acronym for Anies-Muhaimin, which refers to Muhaimin Iskandar, Anies's running mate in the 2024 presidential race.
Anies is a former governor of the Indonesian capital Jakarta who served from 2017 to 2022 (archived link). He was also the country's minister for education between 2014 and 2016 under President Joko Widodo, who is popularly known as Jokowi.
Anies' forefathers immigrated from Yemen and his paternal grandfather, Abdurrahman Baswedan, was an independence hero who founded the Indonesia Arab Association during the Dutch colonial era (archived links here and here).
The clip has been viewed more than 3,600 times after it was shared elsewhere on TikTok here, here and here, as well as on Facebook here and here. It also appeared on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Social media users' comments indicated many believed Anies was speaking Arabic at the event.
"Mr Anies is really smart," wrote one TikTok user.
"Very intelligent," another said.
However, Anies was in fact speaking Indonesian at the rally. AFP analysis found that his voice and the movement of his lips had been manipulated using an AI program.
'Indonesian to Arabic'
A reverse image search on Google found the original video was published to the YouTube channel of Indonesian newspaper Harian Kompas on July 16, 2023 (archived link).
Anies gave a speech that day to supporters of Indonesia's Nasdem Party at Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium in Jakarta.
The Arabic speech is a translation of what Anies said in Indonesian.
His bid for the presidency is being backed by the party, which also supported Jokowi in the 2019 election for the leadership (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison between the AI-generated video (left) and the original footage from Harian Kompas (right):
Other media also reported on the event here, here and here (archived links here, here and here).
A keyword search on TikTok found the AI-generated video was first posted on November 1, 2023, by a user making full disclosure about its use of the technology (archived link).
"Translating video from Indonesian to Arabic, can it be done? It can -- even the lip movements have been translated," this post says in Indonesian.
In the bottom-right corner of the video is a watermark that reads "HeyGen" (archived link). HeyGen is a US tech company offering software that creates AI-generated avatars and voices. Based in Los Angeles, the firm says it serves major clients including Amazon and KPMG.
There is some distortion to the shape of the microphones in front of Anies apparently caused by the AI manipulation of his lip movements.
A spokesperson for Anies told AFP the presidential hopeful understands some Arabic but is not fluent in the language.
He speaks Indonesian, Javanese and English -- his team said on November 9, 2023 -- and understands some Sundanese, which is mainly spoken in the western part of Indonesia's main island Java.
AFP has debunked other AI-generated misinformation related to the 2024 Indonesian presidential election here.
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