‘It’s not me, it’s just my face’: the models who found their likenesses had been used in AI propaganda

London-based Synthesia’s technology was employed to make deepfake videos for authoritarian regimes

The well-groomed young man dressed in a crisp, blue shirt speaking with a soft American accent seems an unlikely supporter of the junta leader of the west African state of Burkina Faso.

“We must support … President Ibrahim Traoré … Homeland or death we shall overcome!” he says in a video that began circulating in early 2023 on Telegram. It was just a few months after the dictator had come to power via a military coup.