A Facebook video showing Sen. Migz Zubiri with other senators saying they are “ready” to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte once the Upper House convenes as an impeachment court is fake. It was made using artificial intelligence.
Published on April 30, an FB page posted the fake eight-second clip showing Zubiri with Senate President Tito Sotto and senators Panfilo Lacson, Loren Legarda, Pia Cayetano, Risa Hontiveros, JV Ejercito, Robin Padilla, and Lito Lapid. In it, “Zubiri” said:
“Ready na kami sa impeachment ni VP Sara kapag nag-convene ang Senado. Sorry, hindi kasi siya marunong makisabay kung ano ang kalakaran ng gobyernong ito
(We are ready for Vice President Sara’s impeachment once the Senate convenes. Sorry but she just doesn’t know how to go along with how this government operates).”
AI was used to transform a photo originally shared by Zubiri with the media showing the group at a closed door caucus that day. Zubiri said they had discussed legislative issues, including “possible scenarios” should the impeachment case against Duterte reach the Senate.
On May 2, Zubiri issued an advisory on his official FB page against the circulating clip. He said it was an AI-generated fabrication and reiterated that their caucus did not tackle the merits of the complaints against the vice president.
A major red flag indicating AI use is the noticeable difference between Zubiri’s real voice and the higher pitched, robotic-sounding voice in the FB clip. Below is a comparison between the clip “Zubiri” and the real Zubiri:
Deepfake detection tool, aurigin.ai, flagged the video’s audio track as AI-generated with 82% confidence. Results from Hiya, a voice cloning detection tool, likewise revealed that the audio in the clip was “very likely AI-generated” with a detection rate of 90%.
Other audio-visual discrepancies, such as Zubiri’s teeth appearing uneven across frames, some senators in the background remaining unnaturally still while others moved, and the awkward pronunciation of the Filipino words “ano” and “kalakaran,” are tell-tale signs of the video being made with AI.
The AI-generated clip surfaced on the same day Sotto called for a caucus attended by 10 senators from the majority and minority blocs, after the House justice committee unanimously voted yes in finding probable cause in the two impeachment raps against Duterte.
The Senate leader said that if the articles of impeachment are formally transmitted to them, “we will act on it forthwith,” which means “the following day” for Sotto.
On May 4, the House committee on justice unanimously approved its report finding probable cause to impeach Duterte, along with the resolution setting forth the articles of impeachment, paving the way for a House plenary vote on May 11.
The fake video, uploaded by FB page Tito Vlog Tv (created on July 29, 2018 as The Lost Files), received 1,400 reactions; 532 comments; 172 shares and 213,000 views as of writing.
