ON FEB. 27, the eve of Chicago's mayoral election, a Twitter account calling itself Chicago Lakefront News posted an image of candidate Paul Vallas, a former city budget director and school district chief who was in a tight four-way contest for the city's top job, along with an audio recording. On the soundtrack, Vallas seems to downplay police shootings, saying that "in my day" a cop could kill as many as 18 civilians in his career and "no one would bat an eye." The audio continues, "This 'Defund the Police' rhetoric is going to cause unrest and lawlessness in the city of Chicago. We need to stop defunding the police and start refunding them."
As it turned out, Vallas said none of those things. The audio was quickly debunked as a fake, likely created with easily accessible artificial intelligence software that clones voices. The Chicago Lakefront News account, which had been set up just days before the video was posted, quickly deleted the post but not before the tweet had been seen by thousands and widely recirculated, with some apparently tricked into believing the "recording" was authentic. The audio had little impact on the mayoral race: Vallas won a plurality and was headed toward a runoff election at press time. But the Vallas voice clone is a scary preview of the sort of misinformation experts say we should expect to face in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, thanks to rapid advances in A.I. capabilities.
This story is from the April - May 2023 edition of Fortune US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April - May 2023 edition of Fortune US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Inside the Cult of Costco
The retailer's hundreds of warehouse stores are overstuffed and overwhelming-and that's all by design. We delve into the method behind the madness that turns shoppers into obsessives.
A Disastrous Hack
The health care industry is still recovering from a cyberattack that shut down insurance payments and stole a third of Americans' health data.
The Death of the American Pharmacy
Bartell's, a beloved Seattle drugstore now owned by debt-laden Rite Aid, is closing many of its locations. Its demise is the latest symptom of a national health care crisis that hurts all of us.
The Vigilance of Satya Nadella
Ten years in as CEO, Nadella has turned Microsoft into the world's most valuable company and one of the top players in Al. He's navigated two sweeping tech transformations. His biggest worry is that he won't see the next one coming.
Walmart's Mr. Fix-It
When Doug McMillon became CEO in 2014, Walmart's sales had stagnated, and customers were defecting to Amazon in droves. Over the next 10 years, he built an e-commerce powerhouse-and extended Walmart's ironfisted hold on the Fortune 500's No. 1 spot. Can McMillon and the big-box giant stay on top in a digital age?
A 70-Year Journey in the Fortune 500 Time Machine
The 1955 list, our first-ever ranking of U.S. companies by revenue, reveals a lot about how American business once saw itself. It also shows how dramatically the economy and the list have changed.
TRAVEL BLURRING THE LINES OF FITNESS AND LUXURY AMID THE SCI-FI GLITZ OF DUBAI
GO ON VACATION.
INVEST AVIATION STOCKS ARE A BARGAIN.ARE THEY WORTH THE TURBULENCE?
IN RECENT MONTHS, Boeing's share price has fallen almost as fast as its aircraft parts have tumbled from the sky.
HEALTH THE BEST GAME PLAN FOR YOUR BRAIN AS YOU AGE
SIXTY-TWO-YEAR-OLD founder Marie Jerusalem has never felt more able to adapt to the changing demands of the corporate world. \"My body's not as agile as it used to be, but mentally I'm stronger today than I've probably ever been in my entire career,\" she tells Fortune.
TECH SILICON VALLEY STARTUPS ARE INVADING THE MILITARY MARKET
AT THE END of February 2022-a few days after cofounders Luke Allen and Steven Simoni sold their 90-person restaurant-tech startup to DoorDash― Russia invaded Ukraine.