Christian conservative satire outlet The Babylon Bee released a video narrated by the artificially generated voice of California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom after the official signed legislation this week banning “deepfake election content” made with artificial intelligence.
Newsom endorsed three measures that “address the use of deepfakes and other deceptive digitally generated or altered content in election campaigns” by requiring online platforms to “remove or label deceptive” such content before elections, as well as allowing elected officials or candidates to “seek injunctive relief” against platforms which refuse to comply.
Newsom claimed in a statement that the laws would safeguard “the integrity of elections” and prevent artificial intelligence from undermining “the public’s trust through disinformation.”
The Babylon Bee then created a parody advertisement featuring the artificially generated voice of Newsom boasting about his worst policies, such as mandating lockdowns and allowing the state to take custody of children whose parents refuse to facilitate so-called gender transitions.
“Thanks to my leadership over the last several years, California has become a world leader in extremist left-wing governance,” the fake Newsom voice said. “My policies were so effective that almost one million people are now fleeing the state every year. We even ran out of U-Hauls.”
The Babylon Bee also published an article entitled “Here Are 9 AI-Generated Deepfakes Of Gavin Newsom That Are Illegal To Share In California,” which included artificially generated images of Newsom grilling a housecat, starting a forest fire, wearing his underwear outside of his pants, and enjoying a romantic candlelit dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The laws were passed after Elon Musk shared a parody campaign advertisement featuring the artificially generated voice of Vice President Kamala Harris, which said during the video that the Democratic nominee was selected because she is the “ultimate diversity hire.” Musk said that “parody is legal in America” and reposted the fake advertisement a second time after Newsom announced the new laws.
Musk recently announced that X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, would move their headquarters out of California over several laws endorsed by Newsom, including a statute banning schools from notifying parents when their children start identifying as the opposite sex.