Trump's AI Voice Makes Its Debut in an Ad

What sounds like President Trump narrating a new Fannie Mae ad actually is an AI-cloned voice reading text, according to a disclaimer in the video. The voice in the ad, created with permission from the Trump administration, promises an "all new Fannie Mae" and calls the institution the "protector of the American Dream." The ad comes as the administration is making a big push to show voters it is responding to their concerns about affordability, including in the housing market. Trump plans to talk about housing at his appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week.

This isn't the first time a member of the Trump family has used AI to replicate their voice, First Lady Melania Trump recently employed AI technology firm ElevenLabs to help voice the audio version of her memoir. It's not known who cloned President Trump's voice for the Fannie Mae ad. But ElevenLabs said in an email to the AP on Sunday that the audio of Trump's voice wasn't generated by the company. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

"For generations, home ownership meant security, independence, and stability," Trump's digitized voice says in the one-minute ad aired Sunday. "But today, that dream feels out of reach for too many Americans not because they stopped working hard but because the system stopped working for them." Fannie Mae and its counterpart Freddie Mac buy mortgages that meet their risk criteria from banks, which helps provide liquidity for the housing market. The two firms guarantee roughly half of the $13 trillion US home loan market and are a bedrock of the US economy. The ad says Fannie Mae will work with the banking industry to approve more would-be homebuyers for mortgages.