How political parties are using AI to bring personalities to life
Amma’, as she was popularly known, hadn’t actually uttered the words. She couldn’t have, given that she had passed away in December 2016. The clip had been created by cloning her voice.
The party had commissioned the clip, which was created using artificial intelligence (AI), to commemorate her birth anniversary and boost the morale of the party faithful. Jayalalithaa’s voice listed some of the things that she had done while in power, such as providing computers to schools and setting up canteens to provide subsidized food. It noted that the party had been through many ups and downs and ended by urging people to vote for Edappadi Palaniswami, the current leader of the AIADMK, and bring it back to power.
The clip was a hit and garnered a flood of responses online, such as “Miss you Amma," “Love you Amma," “I’m crying" and so on. Jayalalithaa isn’t the only Tamil politician who has been resurrected. A month earlier, her archrival and former Tamil Nadu chief minister M.
Karunanidhi, who died in 2018, had been brought back to life in a virtual avatar thanks to AI. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader featured in a video at the launch of party senior and member of parliament T.R. Baalu’s autobiography.
With elections on the horizon, the late leader’s digital avatar, clad in his trademark white shirt, yellow shawl and iconic black sunglasses, showered praises on his son M.K. Stalin, the current chief minister. The dialogue in the eight-minute clip was peppered with paeans such as: “I was discussing the great job Stalin and T.R.
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