ディープフェイク民主主義 韓国大統領選、「ＡＩ候補」で票集め

【ソウルＡＦＰ＝時事】韓国ソウルにある保守系野党「国民の力」の選挙対策本部では、流行に敏感な２０～３０代のスタッフが人工知能（ＡＩ）を用いた合成映像技術「ディープフェイク」を駆使して、一見不可能なことに挑戦している──６０代の大統領候補、尹錫悦（ユン・ソクヨル）前検事総長を「クール」に見せようというのだ。（写真は韓国ソウルにある保守系野党「国民の力」の選挙対策本部で、大統領候補の尹錫悦＜ユン・ソクヨル＞前検事総長のデジタルアバター「ＡＩ尹錫悦」の動画を作成するスタッフ）
　チームはこのために何時間もかけて録画した尹氏の映像を基に、同氏のデジタルアバターを作成し、来月９日投開票の大統領選に向けた選挙戦に「ＡＩ尹錫悦」を投入した。
　ＡＩ技術が選挙に利用された例は過去にもある。ドナルド・トランプ前米大統領を侮辱するバラク・オバマ元米大統領のディープフェイク動画などが知られている。だが、「ＡＩ尹錫悦」は世界初の党公認ディープフェイク候補だと開発チームは言う。
　黒髪をきれいに整え、しゃれたスーツを着た「ＡＩ尹錫悦」は、見た目は本人とほとんど変わらないものの、辛らつな言葉やインターネットミーム（ウェブ上の流行ネタ）になりやすい口癖が特徴だ。ネットでニュースに接する若い有権者の関心を引く作戦で、このコンセプトは世界最速の通信速度を誇る韓国で大人気となっている。
　今年１月１日に公開された公式ウェブサイト「ＷＩＫＩ　ＹＯＯＮ」には７００万人が訪れ、「ＡＩ尹錫悦」に質問を投げかけた。
　「文在寅（ムン・ジェイン）大統領と（対立候補の）李在明（イ・ジェミョン）氏が溺れていたら、どちらを助けますか？」という質問に、「ＡＩ尹錫悦」はこう答えている。「２人の幸運を祈ります」
　尹氏は「ＡＩ尹錫悦」作成のため、２０時間かけて音声と映像で３０００の文章を収録し、ソウルのディープフェイク技術企業にデータを提供した。
　「ＡＩ尹錫悦」チームのディレクター、ペク・キョンフン氏は、「尹氏がよく口にする言葉ほどＡＩ尹錫悦に反映されやすい」と語る。とはいえ、アバターが実際に話している内容を作成するのは選対チームだ。

■高度な皮肉
　「ユーモアがあり風刺の利いた回答にしようと工夫している」とペク氏。そのかいあって、「ＡＩ尹錫悦」の発言は韓国メディアでも話題を集めている。「政治的に正しい発言しかしていなかったら、これほどの反応は得られなかっただろう」「急速に変化する社会への既成政治勢力の対応は遅すぎる」と話した。
　「ＡＩ尹錫悦」は、尹氏の過去のスキャンダルも冗談の種にして有権者の関心をはぐらかそうとしている。例えば、検察時代に建設会社から不適切な果物の贈り物を受け取ったとされる指摘については、「柿やメロンに恩義はありません。国民の恩義のみを受けています」と答えた。選対本部はその後、尹氏が贈り物を受け取ったことがあると認めた。
　最大の対立候補である李氏の所属する与党「共に民主党（ＤＰＫ）」の選対スタッフは、ＡＩ候補者の起用について「政治の礼儀作法を軽視している」と非難する。しかし、この作戦の効果は出ている。世論調査によると、２０代有権者の支持率では、尹氏が李氏を引き離している。
　韓国の選挙管理委員会は、ディープフェイク技術であることを明確に示し、虚偽情報を拡散しないことを条件に、ＡＩ候補者を用いた選挙運動を許可した。
　ディープフェイク技術は有害だと指摘されることが多いが、「ＡＩ尹錫悦」チームのペク氏は、ＡＩこそが選挙運動の未来だと考えている。
　「ディープフェイク技術を使えば、膨大な量のコンテンツを簡単に制作できる。このため、ますます活用されるようになるだろう」と同氏はＡＦＰに語った。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/02/22-12:32）

In a crowded campaign office in Seoul, young, trendy staffers are using deepfake technology to try to achieve the near-impossible: make a middle-aged, establishment South Korean presidential candidate cool.
Armed with hours of specially-recorded footage of opposition People Power Party candidate Yoon Suk-yeol, the team has created a digital avatar of the frontrunner -- and set AI Yoon loose on the campaign trail ahead of a March 9 election.
From a deepfake video of Barack Obama insulting Donald Trump to failed New York mayoral candidate Andrew Yang campaigning in the metaverse, AI technology has been used in elections before.
But AI Yoon's creators believe he is the world's first official deepfake candidate -- a concept gaining traction in South Korea, which has the world's fastest average internet speeds.
With neatly-combed black hair and a smart suit, the avatar looks near-identical to the real South Korean candidate but uses salty language and meme-ready quips in a bid to engage younger voters who get their news online.
It's been a huge hit. AI Yoon has attracted millions of views since making his debut January 1.
Tens of thousands of people have asked questions, but it's not the usual policy-related fare.
President Moon Jae-in and (rival presidential candidate) Lee Jae-myung are drowning. Who do you save? one user asks AI Yoon.
I'd wish them both good luck, the avatar snaps back.
- Meta-snark -
At first glance, AI Yoon could pass for an actual candidate -- an apt demonstration of how far artificially generated videos, known as deepfakes, have come in the last few years.
The real Yoon recorded more than 3,000 sentences -- 20 hours of audio and video -- to provide enough data for a local deepfake technology company to create the avatar.
Words that are often spoken by Yoon are better reflected in AI Yoon, said Baik Kyeong-hoon, the director of the AI Yoon team.
What the avatar actually says is written by his campaign team, not by the candidate himself.
We try to come up with humorous and satirical answers, Baik told AFP.
The approach has paid off. AI Yoon's pronouncements have made headlines in South Korean media, and seven million people have visited the Wiki Yoon website to question the avatar.
If we had only produced politically correct statements, we would not have this reaction, Baik said.
The political establishment has been too slow in the face of a fast-changing society, he added.
When answering questions posed by users, AI Yoon mockingly refers to President Moon and his rival Lee as Moon Ding Dong and Lee Ding Dong.
I want to ask Moon Ding Dong this question: Who is our real enemy? AI Yoon says, in a thinly-veiled swipe at what his critics say is the president's more conciliatory approach towards Pyongyang.
North and South Korea remain technically at war and Moon has met with Pyongyang's leader Kim Jong Un four times since taking office -- an approach candidate Yoon rejects as too soft.
The avatar politician has also used humour to try and deflect attention from Yoon's past scandals, for example claims he received inappropriate fruit gifts from a construction company when he was a senior prosecutor.
I am not beholden to persimmons and melons. I am only beholden to the people, AI Yoon said -- although his campaign was later forced to acknowledge he had accepted some gifts.
The kind of script used by the campaign for AI Yoon draws on the language used in the online gaming world, Kim Myuhng-joo, professor of information security at Seoul Women's University, told local media.
AI Yoon reads off the scripts compiled by its creators, who do not mince words, Kim said.
Ko Sam-seog, a staffer for Yoon's main opponent Lee, accuses the cyber-candidate of downgrading political decorum.
But the snark is working: while polling for the March 9 election remains neck-and-neck, Yoon has pulled ahead of rival Lee Jae-myung with voters in their 20s.
? AI future -
Tech-savvy Baik and his two other team members -- all in their 20s and 30s -- are some of the youngest staffers in the sprawling Yoon campaign.
They come with AI Yoon's responses in rapid-fire brainstorming sessions, which can take as little as 30 minutes, in contrast to the carefully-honed rhetoric usually found in public policy debates.
South Korea's election monitor allows AI candidates to campaign on the condition it is clearly identified as deepfake technology, and does not spread misinformation.
The technology has more often been flagged as harmful -- the 2018 deepfake video of Obama was produced by Oscar-winning filmmaker Jordan Peele to warn viewers about trusting material they encounter online.
But Baik thinks AI is the future of election campaigns.
It's so easy to create huge amounts of content with deepfake technology, he told AFP.
It is inevitable that this will be used more and more.