Post by : Jyoti Gupta

Photo:AFP

A big political drama is happening in the Philippines and now, even fake people are getting involved.Two short videos recently went viral online. One showed a schoolboy talking about why the vice president shouldn’t be impeached. Another showed an old woman selling fish and scolding senators for not punishing the vice president for alleged crimes.

But here’s the twist: both the schoolboy and the fish vendor were not real people. They were made using artificial intelligence (AI) tools. These AI characters looked and sounded real, but were completely computer-generated.

The vice-president, Sara Duterte, is facing serious accusations of corruption and even being linked to a plan to harm the president. In February, the House of Representatives voted to impeach her. But when the case reached the Senate on June 10, it was quickly sent back, with senators saying the process might not be legal.

Even though the AI videos weren’t real, many people believed them. One senator who supports Duterte shared the schoolboy video and praised the "student" for understanding the issue better than adults. The vice president’s brother, a mayor, said the video proved young people support her.

When people found out the videos were fake, Duterte didn’t mind. “There’s nothing wrong with using AI to show support for me,” she said.

The creator of the fish vendor video, a 34-year-old man, said he made it in just five minutes. He believes AI lets people speak up without facing online bullying. He said he added an “AI-created” label on TikTok but forgot to do it on Facebook.

Experts are worried. They say using AI to make fake people say real political opinions can trick the public into thinking certain views are more popular than they are. This can damage trust in politics and democracy.

Even though some tech companies promise not to let users make fake videos of real people, these types of “random citizen” videos fall into a grey area — because they don’t use real faces, but still influence real-world opinions.

AI video tools are improving fast, making it easier for anyone to create believable human characters in just minutes. Experts say it’s time for stronger rules before AI tools are used to mislead people and affect important political events.