Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), Imran Khan is able to continue giving campaign speeches ahead of Pakistan’s election even if he is incarcerated.
After being convicted guilty of corruption in August, the former prime minister was sentenced to two further years in prison.
More than 150 corruption charges have been levelled against him, which he claims are politically motivated and strenuously denies.
As voters prepare to go to the polls tomorrow, Mr Khan is hoping to keep his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in power by helping to write speeches from his cell, which are then shared by his lawyers and converted into his own voice using AI.
Mr Khan himself cannot run following his conviction.
However, the PTI is hoping he can still encourage voters, more than two-thirds of whom are under 45.
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s message at the #InternationalVirtualConvention (AI generated voice). pic.twitter.com/4Bg6YjPJeG
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) January 21, 2024
The party is using mass virtual rallies to generate support, despite the fact only around 31% of the population are on social media, and around half have smartphones.
The online rallies feature a picture of Mr Khan along with his AI-generated voice, which has been watched by thousands of people.
PTI has used generative AI software from a US startup, ElevenLabs, to create the three clips of Mr Khan delivering speeches, to help keep Mr Khan as the face of the party.
The party’s US-based social media lead Jibran Ilyas said: ‘We have never had a political rally without Imran Khan so when we were planning the online rally, we wanted to find a way to present him to the people.
‘We debated the misuse potential and decided to stick with audio AI only.’
The speeches were created by Mr Khan’s lawyer’s passing on messages between PTI and its founder and the party wrote speeches off his notes.
In his messages, Mr Khan addresses the war in Gaza, crackdowns in his party, what his party could do for the future of Pakistan and a plea to vote.
Even though the current president is PTI’s Arif Alvi, PTI has not yet announced who they would put forward if the party won.
