'Not surprised this guy…': AI-generated audio of JD Vance criticising Elon Musk goes viral

A viral audio clip appearing to capture US Vice President JD Vance harshly criticising Elon Musk is making rounds on the internet. A deepfake recording circulated widely on social media, leading Vance to publicly denounce it as a falsehood. The fabricated viral audio clip suggests that Vance is slamming the Tesla CEO for his interference in the government, and for making him and President Donald Trump look bad.
“It’s a fake AI-generated clip. I'm not surprised this guy doesn't have the intelligence to recognize this fact, but I wonder if he has the integrity to delete it now that he knows it's false,” Vance said in a post on X.
“If not, it could be defamation. I guess we'll find out!,” Vance wrote in a pointed response.


The vice president’s statement came after Bishop Talbert Swan, a prominent social media figure, shared the clip without indicating it was fake.
“The infighting is in full swing. Happy Monday!” Swan wrote in his post.

The fabricated recording, which mimicked Vance’s voice with striking accuracy, featured remarks criticizing Musk for allegedly interfering in government affairs and making the Trump administration "look bad." The voice also questioned Musk’s American identity, noting his South African origins.
In the audio, a person can be heard saying, “He’s not even an American. He is from South Africa. And he’s cosplaying as this great American leader.”
Before Vance addressed the issue directly, his communications director, William Martin, had already dismissed the audio as inauthentic, assuring the public that it was “most certainly not” the vice president's voice. Many social media users subsequently deleted their posts containing the clip after the truth surfaced.
In Community Notes, several readers added context, saying the video is not real and has been identified by an AI detection tool as fake.