Former President Trump, who has been a vocal skeptic of artificial intelligence (AI), divulged this week that he’s actually used the technology to rewrite one of his speeches, but he still finds it “alarming.”
“What it does is so crazy. Now, it can also be really used for good. I mean, things can happen. I had a speech rewritten by AI out there,” Trump said on social media influencer Logan Paul’s podcast “Impaulsive.”
Trump described how “one of the top people” showed him how it could be used.
“He goes click, click, click, and like 15 seconds later he shows me my speech, written so beautifully. I said, ‘I’m gonna use this.’ I’ve never seen anything like it,” Trump said. “It comes out with the most beautiful writing, so one industry I think that will be gone are these wonderful speechwriters. I’ve never seen anything like it, and so quickly. A manner of literally minutes, it’s done. It’s a little bit scary.”
In February, Trump called artificial intelligence “maybe the most dangerous thing out there of anything,” during an interview with Fox Business Network host Maria Bartiromo.
As political campaigns ramp up, some technology and political observers have sounded alarms about the potential for AI to be deceptively used to influence elections.
Trump, speaking to Paul on Thursday, elaborated on his fears about and fascination with AI.
“I saw a picture of me promoting a product, and I could not tell. The voice was perfect. The lips move perfectly with every word,” Trump said. “And that’s scary.”
Trump also said he met with tech industry execs, including some who are among his donors, in California and discussed AI.
“Met with incredible people actually, and … this is what everyone’s talking about with all of the technology. These are the real technology people and they’re talking about AI,” he said. “I’ve seen things that are so… you wouldn’t even think it’s possible.”
“They can make a commercial. I saw this … I said, ‘Did I make that commercial? Did I forget that I made that commercial?’ It is so unbelievable.”
Trump described a more alarming hypothetical scenario in which a deepfake could cause global chaos. “If you’re the president of the United States, and ‘you’ announce that 13 missiles have been sent to — let’s not use the name of a country — we’ve just sent the nuclear missiles heading to somewhere, and they will hit their targets in 12 minutes and 59 seconds.”
He said he asked tech billionaire Elon Musk about the thought.
“I asked Elon, ‘Is there any way that like Russia or China can say that it’s not really President Trump?’ He said there’s no way,” Trump said.
2024 Election Coverage
Additionally, Trump lamented that environmental interests could hinder the ability of the U.S. to harness the technology ahead of other countries such as China.
“We have a lot of people trying to hold us back,” Trump said. “Massive amounts of electricity are needed in order to do AI.”
“It’s really powerful stuff, AI, so let’s see how it all works out,” he added.