Thai PM Anutin says clip of him vowing to reopen border with Cambodia ‘obviously AI’
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Thailand's Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has promised to keep closed border crossings with Cambodia in his election campaign.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Bangkok - Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has rejected an audio clip of him purportedly promising to reopen border crossings with Cambodia as false and “obviously” AI-generated.
Ahead of a February election that kept Mr Anutin in office, the conservative leader promised to keep closed border crossings with Cambodia, which were first shut in June amid border tensions that later erupted into deadly clashes.
Social media posts this week included still images of Mr Anutin with audio purportedly of him speaking in Thai about plans to reopen the border.
A 28-second TikTok video shared on May 10 says: “As for the border crossings, we have to wait for things to quiet down because the public is watching. I’ll open them, but not every single checkpoint.
“The border crossings are expected to open by early June at the latest, otherwise our economy might suffer,” it adds.
But Mr Anutin said the clip was fake, and AFP fact-checkers ran the audio through a media analysis tool which said it was “very likely AI-generated”.
“It’s obviously AI,” the Prime Minister told reporters on May 13, adding jokingly: “I don’t speak that eloquently.”
He added: “Please do not believe it. The clip is not reliable. I never said that. There is no open border crossing.”
The TikTok post garnered more than 50,000 views and 1,700 likes. Some comments suggested that users believed the audio was genuine.
“The Thai economy doesn’t depend on Cambodia, you idiot,” one wrote.
Thailand and Cambodia have disputed the demarcation of their 800km border for decades, a legacy of the French colonial era.
The longstanding conflict erupted into fighting in July and December that killed dozens of people and displaced more than a million.
The neighbours signed a ceasefire agreement in late December, but tensions remain, with both sides trading accusations of truce violations.
Another AI-generated audio clip purporting to show Mr Anutin speaking Chinese fluently has previously been debunked. AFP
