‘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 Traore ... 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.