Pakistan's jailed leader Imran Khan uses AI-crafted speech to lure votes

Tariq Butt, Correspondent / Reuters, AFP

Pakistan's jailed former prime minister, Imran Khan, whose party isn't allowed to hold public rallies, used an audio clip generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) late Sunday to address a virtual rally in the first event of its kind in the country.

Imran Khan has been locked up since August and is being tried for leaking classified documents, allegations he says have been trumped up to stop him contesting general elections due in February.

But his Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) party used AI to make a four-minute message from the 71-year-old, headlining a "virtual rally" hosted on social media overnight on Sunday into Monday despite Internet disruptions which monitor NetBlocks said were consistent with previous attempts to censor Imran Khan.

PTI said Imran sent a shorthand script through lawyers which was fleshed out into his rhetorical lingo. The text was then dubbed into audio using a tool from AI firm ElevenLabs, which boasts the ability to create a "voice clone" from existing speech samples.

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

"Our party is not allowed to hold public rallies," Imran said in the clip, urging supporters to turn out in large numbers at general elections set for Feb.8. "Our people are being kidnapped and their families are being harassed."

The audio clip drew more than 1.4 million views on YouTube and was attended live by tens of thousands on other social media platforms.

The audio was broadcast at the end of a five-hour live-stream of speeches by PTI supporters on Facebook, X and YouTube, and was overlaid with historic footage of Imran Khan and still images.

It was bookended with genuine video clips from the onetime cricket star's former speeches according to PTI, but a caption appeared at intervals flagging it as the "AI voice of Imran Khan based on his notes."

"This was a no-brainer for us, when Imran Khan is no longer there to actually meet at a political rally," said US-based PTI social media chief Jibran Ilyas. "It was to get over the suppression."

PTI was the first political party in Pakistan to widely harness the potential of social media, using apps to target younger audiences who carried them to power five years ago. "We wanted to get in election mode," Ilyas told AFP. "No PTI political rally is complete without Imran Khan."

The disruptions to livestreaming fuelled transparency concerns about the upcoming elections, with users nationwide complaining of slow internet speeds and throttling, a technique telecoms regulators use to choke streaming on apps.

Pakistan's telecoms regulator said the interruptions were being investigated, but that internet accessibility overall appeared to be normal.

Imran Khan's speech was generated from a written version he had approved from prison, said officials of his party, which staged the event because it faces a state-backed crackdown on physical gatherings, while its leader is blacked out of media.

Murtaza Solangi, information minister in Pakistan's caretaker government assigned to supervise the elections which has been suspected of favouring Imran Khan's opponents, said the query on internet disruptions could be referred to the telecom regulator or the ministry of information technology, saying, "I have no information about it."

He, however, didn't respond to whether it was a violation of free speech and assembly mandated by election laws for a free and fair voting, which in this case could be a pre-poll rigging.

a During the online gathering, former minister Taimur Khan Jhagra touted the achievements of former Prime Minister Imran Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). He said the former premier initiated the health card scheme, which was the reason the people of KP elected him twice.

Imran Khan’s former chief of staff Dr Shahbaz Gill also spoke on the occasion and claimed initially feudal class and then industrialists were brought to power but Imran Khan came from the "middle class and changed everything”.

Gill claimed YouTube and ‘X’ were being disrupted to stop the transmission of the public meeting.

Former KP health minister Atif Khan said Imran Khan brought young people into politics. Speaking about his party founder, he said the country and the army "belong to him and no one has the right to question his loyalty towards the country”.

PTI Women Wing President Kanwal Shauzab said that "they were missing the presence” of Imran Khan. She claimed Pakistan’s women were "kept behind by all political parties but Imran Khan was the only one who gave courage to women and brought them into politics and gave them political awareness”.

Former federal minister Zartaj Gul said people faced difficulties but still supported the PTI. She said that efforts were underway to make a person premier who does not understand foreign policy and economy. "We will live and die with Imran Khan,” she said.