--- title: "AI Used to Resurrect Dead Dictator to Sway Election" description: "An Indonesian political party used generative AI to \"resurrect\" the dead dictator Suharto via deepfake amid the nation's ongoing elections." date: "2024-02-13" modified: "2024-02-13" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/ai-resurrect-dead-dictator" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai" - "deepfakes" - "elections" - "the digest" --- # AI Used to Resurrect Dead Dictator to Sway Election ![An Indonesian political party used generative AI to "resurrect" the dead dictator Suharto via deepfake amid the nation's ongoing elections.]() *\Image: Golkar\* ## From Beyond An Indonesian political party used generative AI to "resurrect" one of the most violent political figures in the nation's history in a bizarre, deepfaked endorsement message, [*CNN* reports]() — the latest, and possibly strangest, use of generative AI in the world of politics, elections, and information. The figure pictured in the deepfake — [first shared to X-formerly-Twitter]() on January 6 — is the [former Indonesian dictator Suharto](), whose [US-backed]() New Order Regime is [estimated]() to have killed anywhere between 500,000 and about a million Indonesians. Suharto's [brutal regime]() lasted over three decades, until mass unrest caused him to formally resign in 1998. He died in 2008. But now, it seems that Suharto is back. Sort of. Per *CNN*, the long-dead leader's voice and visage were brought into Indonesia's ongoing election cycle via deepfake by leaders of the nation's Golkar party, the right-wing political group to which Suharto and his New Order Regime once belonged. According to *CNN*, the Golkar party is supporting [frontrunner Prabowo Subianto](), the current Indonesian defense minister who served as one of Suharto's former generals and was even Suharto's one-time son-in-law. In the video, Suharto reportedly implores Indonesians to cast support for the Golkar party — meaning it's a de facto endorsement of Prabowo, as the defense minister is more commonly known. "On February 14 2024, we will determine the fate of the Indonesian nation," Golkar party deputy chairman Erwin Aksa, who first shared the video to X, captioned the deepfaked clip (as translated from Indonesian to English using Google Translate.) "We must elect the right people's representatives and leaders for Indonesia, for all Indonesian people." https://twitter.com/erwinaksa_id/status/1743858270799003875 ## Memory Hole This isn't the first time AI has been deployed in the ongoing Indonesian election. According [to *Reuters*](), Prabowo's campaign previously used AI to create a cartoonish AI avatar of the general — who [helped carry out massacres]() and has attempted multiple coups in the past — in a seemingly successful attempt to soften the hardline military head's image to younger voters. Coupled together, these AI use cases feel like an ominous sign of election times. Nostalgia is a powerful thing, a fact that the Golkar party clearly understands. And when a younger electorate is far enough removed from a nation's violent history, rewriting that history, one cuddly AI avatar of a violent general at a time, might get a bit easier. That said, though, not all Indonesian voters found the Suharto clip to be so inspirational. "This is the state of our country today," one Indonesian citizen posted on X, according to *CNN*, "bringing dead dictators back to life to fool and scare us into votes." **More on AI and elections:** [*Bill Gates Says AI Could "Undermine Elections and Democracy"*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()