A Democratic political consultant verified that he was responsible for the robocalls that urged “Democrats not to vote in the New Hampshire primary” last month using an artificial intelligence impersonation of President Biden. Steven Kramer paid magician Paul Carpenter to create a clip in which he imitates Joe Biden. Mr. Kramer utilized the audio in voter-response robocalls before the January primary in New Hampshire.
Steven Kramer, the consultant, and Paul Carpenter, the man he hired to create the AI audio—who is a traveling magician and marketing and technology expert—do not see eye to eye on how the call came to be.
Mr. Kramer might now be subject to civil actions, criminal prosecution, or both. He asserted his intention to cooperate with the Federal Communications Commission’s request. The FCC did not verify it, and he refused to give a copy. NBC News broke the story that Mr. Kramer and Mr. Carpenter were involved.
Mr. Kramer, whose business is situated in Alabama, explained his motivations eloquently, claiming that he wanted to highlight the possible misuse of AI in political campaigns.
He said, “If I hadn’t done this, no one would have done anything,” and went on to explain that he had picked the uncontested New Hampshire Democratic primary so that his calls wouldn’t change what happened. Artificial intelligence (AI) voices will be subject to the same regulations that now prohibit calls using “artificial or prerecorded voices” (FCC announcement, shortly after primary).
At the Thanksgiving gathering, Mr. Carpenter joked about artificial intelligence impersonating Senator Lindsey Graham “saying something vulgar,” but Mr. Kramer afterward told him that he needed the audio to evaluate the technology as a possible benefit for future clients. According to Mr. Carpenter, last year, a mutual acquaintance introduced the two men.
“He got caught, and now he’s trying to make himself look like a good guy,” according to Mr. Carpenter. He went on to say that he had no clue Mr. Kramer would be the one to make the calls.
According to Mr. Kramer, Mr. Carpenter was “milking his five minutes of fame,” and his story was “categorically untrue.”
“Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday,” the impersonator said, urging New Hampshire voters not to participate in the primary. A fake caller ID was used to make it appear as though it came from a New Hampshire Democratic Party chairperson who had already left the position.
According to Mr. Kramer, the Democratic presidential campaign of Dean Phillips had no idea of his activities, even though he was working for the campaign at the time the calls occurred. Phillips, himself, has condemned him.
In an interview with The New York Times, Mr. Carpenter presented an audio recording of the call that had been generated by an ElevenLabs AI tool on January 20, three days before the New Hampshire primary. He also included a screenshot of a $149 Venmo payment made on the same day by Bruce Kramer, whom Mr. Kramer claimed was a relative. On January 22, he included a screenshot of a sent by Mr. Kramer that had the words “Shhhhhhhh” and an article regarding the conversations.
This month, New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella made an announcement announcing that he, together with a group of other AGs and the Federal Trade Commission, had traced the robocalls back to a Texas corporation called Life Corporation. While Mr. Kramer acknowledged using Life Corporation to make the calls, he clarified that the company was unaware of the nature of the calls.
In December and January, Mr. Phillips’s campaign spent $259,946 on Mr. Kramer’s business, Get Out the Vote, to add Mr. Phillips’s name to the Democratic ballot in New York and Pennsylvania, as shown in FEC records.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Phillips stated that the campaign had fired both Mr. Kramer and the individual who had employed him.
“The importance of competition, choice, and democracy is the fundamental notion of our campaign,” the campaign stated verbatim. “The fact that Mr. Kramer is responsible for this call has disgusted us, and we strongly condemn his behavior.”
