In a video published by the Danish People’s Party, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen welcomes the press conference.
– We are abolishing Pentecost. We abolish Easter. And we abolish Christmas. (…) From next year, Denmark will be free of public holidays.
On the contrary, shall muslim id al-fitr be the only day off that lasts, she says.
But the video is not real. It is generated with the help of artificial intelligence, by a party that is far removed from Frederiksen’s.
The Danish People’s Party has created a campaign in which an AI-generated Mette Frederiksen says she wants to remove all the Danish holidays and instead introduce a Muslim holiday.
Defending the video
The video is also labeled as having been made by artificial intelligence, but the reactions have not been long in coming.
In the comments section on X, several people think that it is not sufficiently clear that the video is fake.
Morten Messerschmidt in the Danish People’s Party, on the other hand, believes that it is impossible to make a mistake.
– There is no one who can doubt that the video is satire, and that it is a deepfake, he says to Politiken.
According to the newspaper, he himself sent a message of concern to the prime minister in 2020, after being abused in “deepfakes”.
Morten Messerschmidt is leader of the Danish People’s Party. A real version of him is also in the video.
Photo: RITZAU SCANPIX / Reuters
– This is scary. When we no longer know whether a video is true, we cannot trust our own eyes.
So says Morten Goodwin, professor of artificial intelligence at the University of Agder.
He still believes that this video in itself is not dangerous, even if the logo could be clearer.
– It was more fun. They were open to the fact that artificial intelligence had been used.
– Is it worse that people with so much power use artificial intelligence in this way?
– No, it is probably worse if people with bad intentions use this – such as terrorist groups.
Is the video sufficiently tagged with artificial intelligence?
No, it’s hard to see.
Yes, it is clearly marked.
Show result
Can threaten democracy
In January, fake nude photos of Taylor Swift spread like wildfire. Then the experts said that 2024 was going to be “the year of deepfakes”.
– I think the Taylor Swift example is just the start of something much bigger, Goodwin said then.
Superstar Taylor Swift was the victim of a deepfake” in January.
Christiane Vejlø is a digital trend analyst, director of Elektronista Media and author. She tells the Danish national broadcaster DR that “deepfakes” help to undermine democracy when politicians fall victim to it.
Goodwin believes that such use of artificial intelligence can threaten democracy in the long term.
– I think everyone needs to be a little more critical of sources. We must interpret all videos we see as we have interpreted text. We must be aware that videos can be just as untrue as a text on Facebook or a text message.
Already when Obama was president, the “deepfake” technology was put into use. Today, “deepfakes” are more realistic.
Photo: AP
Great resistance
The background for the video is the abolition of the Danish holiday “the great day of prayer”. Last year, the government chose to remove the day off, in order to spend money on defense instead.
Resistance from unions, bishops and the people was great.
The government calculated that removing the public holiday would save 3.2 billion Danish kroner.
