Behind the AI Robocall that impersonated Biden: a Democratic advisor and a magician
A Democratic political consultant confirmed last month that he was behind robocalls, which used an artificial intelligence impersonation of President Biden to urge Democrats not to vote in the New Hampshire primary.
But the consultant, Steven Kramer, and the man he hired to produce the AI audio, a traveling magician and technology and marketing consultant named Paul Carpenter, have different views on how exactly the call came about.
Now Mr. Kramer could face criminal charges, civil lawsuits or both. He said he had received a subpoena from the Federal Communications Commission and would comply. But he declined to provide a copy and the FCC would not confirm it. NBC News was the first to report the involvement of Mr. Kramer And Mr. Carpenter.
Mr. Kramer, whose company is based in Alabama, described his motives as lofty and said he wanted to draw attention to the potential misuse of artificial intelligence in campaigns.
“If I hadn’t done this, no one would have done anything,” he said, adding that he chose New Hampshire’s Democratic primary because it was not competitive and so his calls would not affect the outcome. The FCC announced shortly after the primaries that it would apply existing restrictions on calls containing “artificial or pre-recorded voices” to votes generated by AI.
But Mr. Carpenter said that Mr. Kramer told him he wanted the audio to evaluate the technology as a potential service for future customers, after a Thanksgiving party where Mr. Carpenter created an AI impersonation of Senator Lindsey Graham “by saying something vulgar.” as a joke. The two men were introduced last year through a mutual acquaintance, Mr. Carpenter said.
“He got caught and now he’s trying to make himself look like a good guy,” Mr. Carpenter said. He added that he had no idea Mr. Kramer would actually call.
Mr. Kramer said Mr. Carpenter’s story was “categorically false” and that Mr. Carpenter was “milking his five minutes of fame.”
The impersonation of Mr. Biden’s voice urged New Hampshire residents not to participate in the primaries because “your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday.” The caller ID was spoofed to make it appear as if it came from a former chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party.
Mr. Kramer was working for Dean Phillips’ Democratic presidential campaign around the time of the phone call, but he said the campaign was unaware of his actions. Mr Phillips convicted him.
Mr. Carpenter provided The New York Times with an audio file of the conversation that showed it was produced using an AI tool from ElevenLabs on Jan. 20 — three days before the New Hampshire primary — and a screenshot of a Venmo payment of $149 that day from Bruce Kramer, who Mr. Kramer said was a relative. He also provided a screenshot of a Jan. 22 text message in which Mr. Kramer shared an article about the calls and said, “Shhhhhhhh.”
John M. Formella, the attorney general of New Hampshire, announced this month that he, a consortium of other attorneys general and the FCC had identified Life Corporation, a company based in Texas, as the source of the robocalls. Mr. Kramer confirmed that he had used Life Corporation to place the calls, but said the company did not know their contents.
Mr. Phillips’ campaign paid Mr. Kramer’s company, Get Out the Vote, a total of $259,946 in December and January to get Mr. Phillips’ name on Democratic ballots in New York and Pennsylvania, according to FEC registrations.
A representative for Mr. Phillips said that neither Mr. Kramer nor the person who hired him were still working for the campaign.
“The fundamental idea of our campaign is the importance of competition, choice and democracy,” the campaign said in a statement. “We are outraged to learn that Mr. Kramer is behind this call, and we absolutely condemn his actions.”
Kitty Bennett research contributed.