It is pointed out that the mayor of New York is making voters think that he is a multilingual speaker by using voices in dozens of languages created by AI

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been accused of making robocalls to voters in languages he cannot speak, such as Spanish and Yiddish, making it appear as though he is multilingual. It is being done.

STOP Condemns Eric Adams' Deepfake Robocalls, Calls 'Responsible AI' Plan 'Deeply Irresponsible' — STOP - The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project

Tongue Twisted: Adams Taps AI to Make City Robocalls in Languages He Doesn't Speak | THE CITY — NYC News

Below is the audio of Mayor Adams speaking in Spanish. However, it is not the mayor's own voice, but the voice generated by AI.

Eric Adams AI en español - YouTube


The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP), an NPO, has criticized Mayor Adams for making robocalls using AI-generated multilingual voices.

'The mayor is creating a deepfake of himself, which is extremely unethical, especially since he's doing it with taxpayer money,' said Albert Fox Kahn, executive director of STOP. It's Orwellian to make New Yorkers think they can speak a language they don't. Yes, we need announcements in every New Yorker's native language, but deepfakes are nothing more than a creepy publicity project.' and expresses a harsh opinion.

Mayor Adams attended a press conference on October 16th announcing the MyCity Chatbot, which connects New York City resources with small business owners, and said of the multilingual robocalls, ``Conversational AI is amazing.'' 'Once you enter the script, you can replace my voice with any language you like.'

In response to this, Mayor Adams was asked by a reporter, ``Wouldn't it be possible to give the impression that the mayor speaks multiple languages?'' He excused himself by saying that it was a way to communicate, and said, ``Is this ethically right or wrong? We have to speak the language. All I can say to you is ``Ni Hao,'''' he concluded the press conference.

According to a spokesperson, robocalls using the mayor's voice were made to more than 4 million people, including several thousand calls in Spanish, more than 250 calls in Yiddish, more than 160 calls in Mandarin, and more than 4 million calls in Cantonese. There were 89 cases and 23 cases were in Haitian Creole.

Speaking to the news site THE CITY, Associate Professor Annika Maren Hinze, a political scientist at Fordham University, said, ``It's great to have as many languages as possible, but it's not easy to feel like you're speaking those languages yourself.'' 'Pretending or insinuating is another matter entirely, and I think there are serious ethical concerns for a mayor who is not multilingual.'

Furthermore, the mayors of New York before Mayor Adams were not all that fluent in languages other than English, and Michael Bloomberg (in office from 2002 to 2013) was ridiculed on social media for his attempts to speak Spanish. . It has also been pointed out that Mayor Adams himself made fun of former Mayor Bill de Blasio (in office from 2014 to 2021) for trying to use Spanish at press conferences.

However, Mr. Ed Koch (in office from 1978 to 1989) was able to speak German, which was useful when he was drafted into the military during World War II, and Mr. Fiorello LaGuardia (in office from 1934 to 1945) He spoke Italian, French, German, Yiddish, and Croatian, and apparently worked as an interpreter at Ellis Island before becoming mayor.